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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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THE1 



Bible in Picture & Story. 



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BY MRS. L. S. HOUGHTON. 





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Amrrigan Tragt Sogiety, 

I50 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. 

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COPYRIGHT, 1SS9, 
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



Tablr op Contents. 



GENESIS 7 

JOB 48 

EXODUS 51 

LEVITICUS 63 

NUMBERS - 63 

DEUTERONOMY 68 

JOSHUA 70 

JUDGES 78 

RUTH 87 

I. SAMUEL 85 

THE BOOKS OF KINGS AND CHRONICLES 115 

JONAH L r . 134 

THE BOOKS OF KINGS AND CHRONICLES AGAIN 136 

JEREMIAH i 39 

EZEKIEL I45 

DANIEL I4 6 

EZRA . . I53 

NEHEMIAH I57 

ESTHER I59 

THE GOSPELS r 6 3 

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 219 

THE REVELATION 239 



Tablr of Illustrations. 



The Garden of Eden 7 

The first sin S 

Driven from Paradise 9 

Christ shall bruise the serpent's head 10 

The home out of Eden 11 

Cain's sacrifice and Abel's 12 

Abel's death 13 

Building the ark 14 

The flood 15 

The return of the dove 16 

.Alt. Ararat 16 

Noah's thank-offering . 17 

Building the tower of Babel 18 

Terah's journey to Haran 19 

Melchizedek blessing Abram 20 

The destruction of Sodom 21 

The promise to Abraham 22 

Sending away Hagar and Ishmael 23 

Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness 24 

Abraham and Isaac going to offer sacrifice 25 

" Lay not thy hand upon the lad " 26 

Abraham's steward at the well 27 

The meeting of Isaac and Rebekah 28 

Esau and Jacob 29 

Jacob receiving his father's blessing 30 

Jacob's dream 31 

Laban's agreement with Jacob 32 

Jacob keeping the flocks ^^ 

The angel blessing Jacob 34 

Esau and Jacob reconciled 35 

Joseph telling his dreams 36 

" Behold, this dreamer cometh !" 37 

Joseph sold to the Ishmaelites 38 

Dipping the coat in blood ^ 

Jacob's grief 39 

Explaining dreams in the prison 40 

Joseph interpreting Pharaoh's dream 41 

Honoring Joseph 42 

Joseph garnering grain 43 

The cup found in Benjamin's sack 44 

" I am Joseph, your brother!" 45 

Jacob before Pharaoh 46 

Jacob blessing Manasseh and Ephraim 47 

Jacob's dying blessings 47 

Evil tidings for Job 48 

Job's friends 49 

The Israelites under taskmasters 51 

The finding of Moses 52 

Moses smiting the Egyptian 54 

The Passover 55 

Mourning in Egypt 56 

Pharaoh's army destroyed 57 

Miriam's song •_ 58 

Mt. Sinai 59 

Worshipping the golden calf .. 60 

Moses coming down from the mount 61 

The Tabernacle 61 

A high-priest _ 62 

The Holy Place 62 

The Ark of the Covenant 62 

A goat for the sin-offering 63 

Israelitish spies in Canaan 63 

Water from the rock 64 

The serpent of brass 65 

Balaam's way barred by an angel 66 

Moses blessing Joshua 68 

Moses ascending Pisgah 69 



Rahab and the spies 70 

The escape of the spies -\ 

Crossing the Jordan 72 

The destruction of Jericho 73 

Ebal and Gerizim 74 

Joshua's promise to the Gibeouites 75 

" Sun, stand thou still !" 76 

Joshua dividing the land by lot 77 

Deborah and Barak 78 

Sisera's mother at her window 79 

Gideon's Angel Visitor 80 

Fighting with trumpets, pitchers, and lamps 81 

Jephthah's daughter comes to meet him 82 

Samson and the lion 83 

Samson slaying the Philistines 84 

The gates of Gaza 85 

Samson taken prisoner 86 

Naomi in Moab 87 

Boaz and Ruth 87 

" So she gleaned until even " 88 

Hannah's sorrow 89 

Samuel left with Eli 90 

" Speak, for thy servant heareth " 91 

Samuel anointing Saul 92 

David, the young shepherd 93 

David anointed king 93 

David before King Saul 94 

Goliath slain 95 

Jonathan equipping and robing David 96 

Jonathan's signal to David 97 

The farewell of the friends 98 

Saul in the cave in En-gedi 99 

Abigail before David 100 

Nabal's carousal 101 

David in Saul's tent at night 102 

Saul's end predicted by Samuel 103 

Death of Saul and Jonathan 104 

David mourning for Abner 105 

The flight of Mephibosheth 106 

The ships of Tyre 108 

David receiving Absalom no 

David leaving Jerusalem in 

Shimei insulting David 112 

Absalom caught in the oak 113 

Seven descendants of Saul slain 114 

David's charge to Solomon 115 

Solomon's dream and his choice 116 

The wise judgment of the king 117 

The temple in Jerusalem 118 

Preparing to build the temple : 119 

Dedication of the temple 119 

Solomon visited by the Queen of Sheba 120 

Abijah's prophecy to Jeroboam 121 

The king's treasures carried away 122 

Elijah before Ahab and Jezebel 123 

Ravens bringing food to Elijah 124 

" See, thy son liveth " 125 

" Arise, eat and drink " 126 

Micaiah's prophecy to Ahab 127 

Elijah and Elisha at the Jordan 128 

Elijah in the chariot of fire 128 

Elisha leading the Syrians 129 

A pot of oil for a debt 129 

" She laid him on the bed and went out " 130 

The little captive maid in Syria 131 

Naaman's gratitude to Elisha 132 

The punishment of Jezebel 133 



TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Nineveh 134 

" There was a mighty tempest " 134 

Jonah's lesson from the gourd 135 

Worshipping Moloch 136 

Hezekiah showing his treasures 137 

Hezekiah's Pool, Jerusalem 138 

Jeremiah in the stocks 139 

King Jehoiakim burning the prophecy 139 

Jeremiah and Baruch 140 

King Jehoiachin in fetters 140 

Judah led into captivity 141 

Jeremiah weeping over Jerusalem 142 

"They let down Jeremiah with cords " 143 

" By the rivers of Babylon we wept " 144 

The lamentation of Jeremiah 144 

Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones 145 

Daniel and his three friends in Babylon 146 

Nebuchadnezzar's golden image 147 

The fiery furnace 148 

Belshazzar at the banquet 149 

Babylon 150 

The decree of Darius 151 

Daniel in the lions' den 152 

Returning from captivity 153 

Laying the corner-stone of the temple 154 

The new temple dedicated 155 

Ascribe 156 

Nehemiah before King Artaxerxes 157 

Building the walls of Jerusalem 158 

Mordecai and Esther 159 

Haughty Haman 159 

"What wilt thou, Queen Esther ?" 160 

Reading to the sleepless king. 161 

Mordecai rewarded 161 

Esther's banquet 162 

Haman condemned 162 

The angel messenger to Zacharias 163 

Zacharias and Elisabeth 163 

" Fear not, Mary " 164 

Mary's visit to Elisabeth 165 

" Behold, I bring you good tidings " 166 

The shepherds at Bethlehem 167 

The high-priest and the infant Jesus 168 

Simeon's prophecy 169 

Anna in the temple 170 

Wise men from the East 171 

Fleeing into Egypt 172 

Christ among the Rabbis in the temple 173 

Nazareth 174 

John the Baptist preaching , 174 

The baptism of Jesus 175 

Nicodemus' visit to Christ 176 

Christ and the Samaritan woman 177 

" Launch out into the deep " 178 

" And he healed them all " 179 

The Sermon on the Mount 180 

Jesus and the widow of Nain 181 

Christ preaching 182 

The Sea of Galilee 183 

Listeners by the shore : 183 

Sowing tares 184 

" Carest thou not that we perish?" 185 

"Peace, be still!" 186 

Christ raising Jairus' daughter 187 

Herodias' daughter dancing before Herod 188 

Feeding the multitude 189 

"O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"- 190 



The Syrophcenician woman 191 

Her daughter healed 191 

Christ rebuking the evil spirit 192 

The home at Bethany 193 

Jesus and Martha 193 

The good Samaritan 194 

Death of Lazarus 195 

" Lazarus, come forth !" 195 

"Father, I have sinned " 196 

Lazarus at the rich man's gate 197 

The Pharisee and the publican 198 

" Suffer little children to come unto me " 199 

A penny a day 200 

Blind Bartimeus 201 

Zaccheus greeted by Jesus 202 

" O Jerusalem, Jerusalem !" 203 

" Hosanna to the Son of David !" 203 

Christ driving the traders out of the temple 204 

The question of tribute 205 

The widow's two mites 206 

Mary's anointing 207 

Christ washing the disciples' feet 208 

" One of you shall betray me " : 208 

Christ's prayer in Gethsemane 209 

A traitor's kiss 210 

"Crucify him! Crucify him!" 211 

Jesus mocked 212 

" There they crucified him " 213 

The tomb in the garden 214 

"Christ is risen" 215 

" Rabboni ! My Master!" 216 

Thomas convinced 217 

Christ's ascension 218 

The cripple at the Beautiful Gate :.. 219 

Sapphira's punishment 220 

Stephen stoned 221 

Philip and the Ethiopian 221 

Saul's journey to Damascus 222 

"Brother Saul" 222 

Saul's escape 223 

Going into Arabia - 223 

At the feet of Gamaliel 223 

Tabitha 224 

Peter on the housetop 225 

Antioch in Syria 226 

Elymas made blind 226 

Antioch in Pisidia _ :_ 227 

Paul stoned 227 

Timothy studying the Scriptures 228 

Lydia's hospitality 229 

Paul casting out an evil spirit 229 

Paul and Silas in prison 230 

The Acropolis at Athens 231 

Paul at the home of Aquila and Priscilla 231 

Tent-making 232 

Corinth - 232 

Paul preaching at Ephesus 233 

Paul sent to Cesarea 234 

" As he reasoned, . . . Felix trembled " . 235 

Paul telling his story to Agrippa.- 235 

" They escaped all safe to land" 236 

On the island of Melita 236 

Ruins of the Appian Way 237 

" I am now ready to be offered " 238 

John banished to Patmos 239 

" And a little child shall lead them " 239 

John, "the beloved disciple " 240 



THE 



BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



Geinfisis. 

When God first made this world it 
was very beautiful, and God saw that it 
was good. There were then no people 
living in the world, but only beasts and 
birds and fishes. Then God made a man 
and a woman, and called their names 
Adam and Eve. 

The Bible tells us that Adam and 

Eve were made in the image of God. 

This does not mean that they looked like 

God, for God is a Spirit, and has not a 

body as men and women have. It means 

that they were like God in having a soul 

that will never die*, and in having a will, 

and the power to choose between one 

action and another, and between right 

■& and wrong. The beasts are not so ; they do not know right from 

wrong, and cannot choose between good and evil, and they are not 

in the image of God. 

God placed Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden called the Gar- 
den of Eden. A great river ran through this garden, and in it grew all 
beautiful flowers and stately trees and all things that were good for 
food. Adam and Eve were to take care of this beautiful garden, but 
they had no other work to do, and this work was not hard, for in that 
lovely climate everything grew without much care. God brought all 
the beasts to Adam and he gave them their names, and God made him the master 
over all the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air. 

Adam and Eve were very happy in Eden. They loved one another very much, 
and they loved God too, and were not afraid of him, for they had no sin in their hearts. 
They wished only to please God, and that made them very happy. They loved to 
think about God and to talk with him. When we talk with God we call it praying. 




7 -mm* u 



8 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



God had told Adam and Eve that they might eat of every tree in the garden except 
one. If they ate of that one tree, God said, they should die. This one was called the 
tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The meaning of this name is this : we 
cannot tell whether a person is good or not until he has been tried. And so it would 
not be certain that Adam and Eve were good, and would remain good, until they 
had a chance to do wrong. If, then, they chose to do right, it would be because 
they were really good. If they chose to do wrong they must die, for sin is a deadly 
thing. 

For a time Adam and Eve did not touch the fruit of the forbidden tree. They had 
enough other fruit to eat, and besides they wanted to do right and to please God. But 
one day the serpent spoke to Eve, and said, ' ' Has God indeed said that you may not eat 
of every tree in the garden?" Eve answered, "We may eat of every tree except one ; 
if we eat of that one we shall die." The serpent told her that this was not true ; that 
she would not die if she ate of it, but that she w r ould become like God, because she 
would know good from evil. 

If Eve had stopped to think she might have seen that it is a sad thing to know evil, 




IO 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



and that to know good she had only to obey God. But Eve wanted to be wise, and 
when she looked at the fruit and saw how nice it looked, and when she thought that it 
would make her wise, she wanted it very much. She forgot what God had said, and 
thought only of what the serpent had said, and she took some and ate, and gave .it to 
her husband, and he also ate. 

And then they did become wise, but it was a sad wisdom, for all it taught them 
was that they had sinned. Then they began to be afraid of God, whom, till that time, 
they had loved, and they hid themselves in a thicket of shrubs. But God knew where 
they were, and he told them that they must go out of the garden. He said that from 
this time they must work hard, and have many sorrows and pains and sicknesses, and at 
last they must die. God punished the serpent too. He told him that from that time he- 
must crawl upon the ground, and that men would always hate serpents and would kill 
them whenever they saw them. 

Then God sent an angel with a flaming sword to drive Adam and Eve out of Eden. 
How sad and sorry they were ! How dreadful it was to be driven away from their 
lovely home, where they had been so 
happy, and where they had loved the 
presence of God, out into the wild world 
where sorrow and trouble were ! 

But though they had sinned, God 
loved them still. Even then he gave 
them a promise to be their comfort. 
He told them that one of their descend- 
ants should bruise the serpent's head. 
By that he meant, destroy the power of 
Satan. We know who it is who has done 
this. It is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, 
who became also the Son of man, and 
died upon the cross to destroy the power 
of sin and to redeem us from all evil. 
Every one who lives has a sinful heart, 
for all are the children of Adam and 
Eve, who chose to do wrong and diso- 
bey God. But Jesus Christ gives a new 
heart to every one who believes on him, 
and he frees them from the power of sin 
and gives them help to do right. 

Adam and Eve were comforted when 
God gave them the promise that a de- 
scendant of theirs should thus overcome their evil with good, and bring a blessing into* 
the world in place of the curse which their sin had brought. But though they had 
this comfort, they had much sorrow. In the first place Adam had to work very hard, 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



1 1 



for food did not grow of itself, as it had done in Eden. And thorns and briers grew 
fast, and would have choked the good plants so that they would have died, if Adam 
had not been very careful to keep them cut down. 

But they had something worse than work to trouble them. For now that they had 
that sad knowledge of evil which the serpent had promised them, they were often 
unkind to one another, and cross and fretful. And they must have been all the more 
unhappy for thinking of the home they had lost by their sin. And so life was a very 
sad thing for both of them. 

After a time, however, a great joy came to them, for God sent them a little son. 
They called his name Cain, which means Possession. How proud and happy Adam 
and Eve were with their little boy baby ! And after a few years another little boy was 
born to them. They called his name Abel. 




Now Adam and Eve had something to work for, and we may believe that for a few 
years their home was a happy one. It was a busy place, for Adam must work the 
harder, with so many mouths to fill, and Eve had no one to help her in the care of the 
children or in the duties of the home. While the boys were little they played together, 
and as they grew older they learned to help their parents. Adam and Eve had many 
other children, although the Bible tells us the name of only one of them — Seth. 



12 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 




When Cain and Abel grew to be young men they each chose the work that they 
liked best. Cain became a tiller of the ground, that is, a farmer, and Abel became 
a shepherd. Both callings are very useful, and in both a man may be good and may 
please God. But Cain Avas not good. He did not care much about pleasing God. 

God had taught Adam how He wished to be worshipped, by him and by all his. 
descendants. He ordained that His worship should be of such a kind as should keep 
alive in men's minds the truth that they have sinned, and brought death into the world, 
and that a Saviour was going to be given, some day, who would die to redeem them. 
He taught Adam to build an altar, and on it to burn a lamb or a kid after he had killed 
it, as a sign of Christ, the Lamb of God who was to die for the sins of men. This 
was called offering a sacrifice. It was a very solemn service, and Adam and his children 
knew very well what it meant. 

One day, when Cain and Abel were grown up, both of them offered sacrifices to 
God. Cain brought some of the fruits of the ground, for he was a farmer, and Abel 
brought a lamb from his flock, for he was a shepherd. God was pleased with Abel and 
his offering, for it showed that he knew that he had sinned, and that he looked to 
the Saviour for forgiveness; but He was not pleased with Cain and his offering, for 
Cain's was only a thank-offering, and showed no sorrow for sin. Cain was very angry 
because God did not show him the same tokens of favor which he showed to Abel. 
The more he thought about the matter the more angry he was, and at last, one day, as 
he and his brother were talking to one another in the field, Cain killed Abel ! 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



13 




How must Cain have felt when 
he saw his brother lying on the 
ground before him, dead ! He had 
seen dead animals before, but never 
a dead man. Perhaps he had never 
believed before that men and women 
could die ; and now here was his 
brother dead by his own act ! Cain 
soon heard the voice of God saying 
to him, "Where is Abel, thy broth- 
er?" If Cain had killed his brother 
by mistake, in the heat of anger, he 
would not have answered as he did. 
" I know not," is his answer. "Am 
I my brother's keeper?" Then God 
told Cain that because he had killed 
his brother, the ground would not be 
fruitful for him when he tilled it, as 
it had been before; and He told him that he must go away from his father's house and 
be a wanderer on the earth. Cain did not want to go away. Though he did not love 
God, nor care to obey him, he did want God to take care of him, and he feared to 
go away from home, lest he should also go away from the protection of God. But he 
was obliged to obey God, and so he went away to a land far off to the east, and his 
father and mother never saw him again. 

But what grief was now that of Adam and Eve ! One son dead, and another son a 
murderer and a wanderer, nevermore to come home to them ! Now at last they felt 
what it was to sin against God and bring death into the world. Oh, how they must 
have mourned: for their dead son, and for the living son who was worse than dead, and 
more than all for that sin of theirs by which they had brought this woe upon themselves 
and upon all their children. Though God had forgiven them their sin, yet the effects of 
it they must bear, and now they began to see how awful the effects of sin are. 

Adam and Eve had another son after Abel was killed, whom they named Seth. 
He lived to grow up and have many sons and daughters. In those days people lived 
much longer than they do now. Adam lived to be nine hundred and thirty years old, 
and Seth nine hundred and twelve. One of Seth's descendants lived to be nine 
hundred and sixty-nine years old. His name was Methuselah, and he was the oldest 
man of whom we have any record. 

But though they lived to be old, they had to die at last. To all these people 
who lived so many years death came sooner or later, as it does to every one now. 
There was only one man who did not die. His name was Enoch, and he was the father 
of Methuselah, the oldest man. This is what the Bible says of him: "And Enoch 
walked with God, and he was not: for God took him." 



M 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



It must have been a glorious thing to go to heaven without dying, as Knoch did, for 
that is what we understand by "he was not, for God took him." But is it not also 
glorious to " walk with God " when in this life ? Enoch did so, and he must have been 
most happy, as well as most good, and a blessing to every one that knew him. 

Many years passed away, and the parts of the world where Adam and his descend- 
ants lived became very full of people. And many of the people were very wicked. In 
fact they grew worse and worse, and more and more sinful, until God saw that it was 
best to destroy them all at once. 

Now there was still one good man in the world. His name was Noah, and he was 
a true servant of God. He loved to please God and prayed often to him, and brought up 
his three sons to serve God. The names of these three sons were Shein, Ham, and 
Japheth. This one family was the only pious family in the world. 

God spoke to Noah and bade him build a large boat, called an ark, because there 
was going to be a dreadful flood, which would drown everybody in the world and all the 
animals, except those who should be saved in the ark. God had told Noah just how 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



large it was to be, and just what shape, and how to build and finish it. While Noah 
was building the ark he continually preached to the people around, warning them of 
what was going to happen and urging them to turn away from their sins and serve 
God. But no one paid any attention to him. And as Noah was a long time building 
the ark, they became quite used to his preachings, and went on their own wicked way 

just as much as if they had never been warned. 

When the ark was finished God told Noah to take two of every kind of animal and 
bird, and seven pairs of every kind that were good for food, and bring them into the ark. 
He was to take food for them and for himself and his family, and he was to make all 
ready at once, for in seven days the rain was going to begin. So Noah collected the 
animals and birds and caused them to go into the ark; no doubt God helped him and 
his sons to gather them. When they were all in, Noah went in and his wife, and 
his three sons and their wives, and God shut the door upon them. 
Then it be°;an to 

rain: not such a rain 

as even the worst that 

we have ever seen ; the 

water poured down in 

great sheets, as if the 

windows of heaven had 

been opened. For forty 

days and forty nights 

it rained this way. 

First the brooks over- 
flowed their banks, and 

then the lakes and seas 

became swollen, until 

the whole world looked 

like a great sea. 

At first the people 

thought it was a severe 

storm which would 

soon come to an end. 

As the low ground be- 
came covered they fled 

to the hills and all the 

high points they could 

reach. But still the 

waters rose and rose; 

the terror of the peo- 
ple became greater and 

greater. Oh, how they 




1 6 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



must have gazed after the ark, riding safely on the top of the water, and wished that 



they had gone in there before it was too late ! 




But the water kept on rising, rising, 
until the highest point of land was 
covered, and every one in the world, 
except those eight men and women in 
the ark, was drowned. 

Not only all the people were 
drowned, but so were all the beasts 
and fowls and insects that were upon 
the earth. Nothing could live in that 
wide, deep waste of water. 

But Noah and his family rode 
secure upon the top of the waves. 
God was their keeper, and he let no 
evil befall them. For a hundred and 

■fifty days the waters prevailed, and by that time there was no chance of anything being 

left alive. 

After the rain had ceased God caused a strong wind to blow to dry up the water, 

and by the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down so far that the 

ark rested on a high mountain. This mountain was one of the peaks of Ararat, in 

Armenia, west of the Caspian Sea. There was still no dry land to be seen ; only the 

ark rested on the highest mountain-top. It was two months and a half after that 

when the tops of the _-=,=__ 

hills all about came to 

view again. 

Noah wanted to know 

how it was outside of the 

ark, and so one day he 

opened a window of the 

ark and sent forth a raven. 

The raven is a wild bird, 

and it kept on flying to 

and fro, but it did not 

come back into the ark. 
Noah waited a week 

and then he tried again, 

but this time he sent forth 

a dove. The dove flew all 

around, but she found no 

rest for the sole of her 

foot, and so she came back and pecked at the window of the ark, and Noah put forth 

his hand and drew her in. 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



17 



He waited another week, and then he sent the dove ont again. This time when she 
came back she brought something with her : it was an olive leaf which she had plucked 
off from the limb of a tree. Then Noah knew that the water had gone down enough to 
allow the trees to put forth their leaves. He waited one week more, and sent forth the 
dove ao-ain. This time she did not return, and Noah knew that the waters were 

dried up. 

Still he did not go out of the ark, but waited until God, who had shut him in, 
should bid him go forth on the dry land. But he lifted off the roof from the ark 
and let the sweet air of heaven blow into all its crowded corners. How strange the 
world must have looked to Noah and his family as they gazed upon it from the high 
mountain-top on which their ark was resting ! As far as the eye could reach there was 




not a house nor any sign of any human being, but everywhere the young grass was 
springing up fresh and green, and the trees were putting forth their leaves, and the 
tender flowers were budding and blooming, and all the world was clean and bright and 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



sweet, with no trace of sin anywhere. How long would it be before the effects of sin 
would begin to show themselves in this new earth ? 

At last the longed-for word came, and God spoke to Noah and said, "Go forth of 
the ark, thou and thy wife, and thy sons and thy sous' wives with thee." And God 
told him to let out all the cattle and the wild beasts and the birds and the insects and 
creeping things that he had taken with him into the ark. How happy all the animals 
must have been once more to lie down on the green grass and to drink from the clear, 
sparkling brooks that flowed down the mountain-side ! 

The first thing that Noah did was to build an altar to God and to offer upon it 
a sacrifice of thanksgiving. His wife and children all joined him in his offering and in 
praying to God and praising him for his great mercy towards them. 

Then God told Noah that he would never again send a flood to destroy the world. 
He bade Noah look up to the sky and behold the rainbow, and said that the rainbow 
should be the sign of this promise. So whenever it rained and a bow appeared in the 
clouds, all people might know that God was not going to punish men again in this way. 

After this children were born to Noah's sons, and they grew up and had children, 
until at length there were many people in the world. And all of them spoke one lan- 
guage. But they grew to think less and less about God, and to worship him less 
■humbly. And finally they resolved to build a great tower that should reach up to 
heaven, that they might 
make themselves a great 
name. So they went to 
work and made bricks, 
for there were no stones 
in that part of the coun- 
try where they were liv- 
ing, and the soil was 
clay, of which bricks 
are made. They ce- 
mented the bricks to- 
gether with something 
which they found float- 
ing on the river. It 
was bitumen, which is 
a kind of pitch. There 
are springs of bitumen now near the river Euphrates, and it floats down the river now, 
just as it did in those days. And they laid the foundation of an enormous tower, and 
built upon it until it was very high. But God was not pleased with this, and he con- 
fused their language so that they could not understand one another. So they left off 
building the tower, for they could no longer work together, and it was never finished. 
The name of the tower was Babel, which means Confusion. There are ruins to this 
day, near the river Euphrates, which are thought to be those of the tower of Babel. 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



'9 



As time went on, men be- 
gan to worship idols and to for- 
get the true God. 

Now in the land of Meso- 
potamia, far away to the south 
of the mountains of Ararat where 
the ark had rested, there lived a 
family who worshipped the true 
God, while all the people around 
them were idolaters. This fam- 
ily consisted of an old father, 
named Terah, his three sons, 
Abram, Nahor, and Haran, with 
their wives, and his grandson 
Lot, the son of Haran. 
Although this family worshipped the true 
God, they mingled their service of him with the 
idol worship which was going on all around them. 
There was only one member of the family who truly loved 
God and tried to serve him in the right way; that one 
was Abram. 

After a time Terah and his family moved away from their 
home in Ur of the Chaldees, and went southward. Haran had al- 
ready died, but the rest of the family set forth, a goodly company, riding upon camels, 
and followed by their flocks and herds and by their tribe of herdsmen and servants, for 
they were very rich. They came to a land called Haran, and there they stayed for a 
time, and there the old father, Terah, died. 

But Haran was not the place where God wanted his own people to be. God 
had chosen Abram to be the father of a great nation, who should keep alive a knowl- 
edge of the true God; and He told him to leave his family and friends, and go still 
farther south-westward, to a land that He would show him, for He was going to make 
him a blessing to the world. 

Abram was seventy-five years old, and had no child. But this did not make 
him doubt God. He at once obeyed God. He gathered together his flocks and herds, 
and his herdsmen and servants, and set out, and his brother Haran's son, Lot, joined 
him. 

After many wanderings they settled in a rich country between the river Jordan 
and the Mediterranean Sea, and there they built an altar to God, as they had done in 
every place where they had stopped. And here Abram intended to remain; but after 
a time he found that his herdsmen and those of his nephew, Lot, were quarrelling 
about wells and pasture-lands, for they had grown so rich in cattle that there was not 
room for them both. So they agreed to part company, and Lot chose to go southward 




20 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



and live in the plain of Sodom, which was very fertile and beautiful, and Abram moved 
northward, to a place that was afterwards called Bethel. 

Lot had not long lived in the plains of Sodom when a war broke out between 
the people of that country and the king of a powerful nation to the eastward. In the 
course of the war the people of Sodom were defeated, and many of them were carried 
away as prisoners, and among them L,ot was carried off, with his family and all his 
goods. The news was soon brought to Abram. Now Abram was so rich a man that 
he had three hundred trained soldiers of his own. Besides this, he had made friends 
with the native tribes of the country, and with their soldiers and his own he pursued 




after the victorious army, defeated it in battle, and rescued Lot and his property. 
As they were on their way back in triumph, two kings came out to meet him. One 
was the conquered king of Sodom, who came to thank Abram for the rescue of his 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



21 



people: the other was Melchizedek, king of Salem, and he was also a priest of the Most 
High God. Melchizedek is the first priest whom we read about in the Bible, and 
we know nothing more about him than that he was a priest of the true God, and 
that Abram knew it, and gave him tithes, that is, a certain portion of all that he had, 
because he was the priest of God. Melchizedek blessed Abram, and they ate together, 
and then Abram went on his way. 

Lot and his servants went back to the plain of Sodom, and before long Lot moved 




into the city of Sodom. Now this was a very wicked city, so wicked that at last God 
resolved to destroy it. But for Abram's sake he sent an angel to warn Lot of what he 
was going to do, and tell him to save his life by flight. So Lot and his wife and his two 
daughters hastened out of the city, and as soon as they were gone the Lord rained fire 
and brimstone upon the wicked city and destroyed it utterly. 

Lot's wife did not want to go; she was sorry to leave Sodom; and, as the others 
were hastening away, she lingered behind them, looking back with longing to the 
wicked city. And while she was looking she became changed into a pillar of salt. 
But Lot and his two daughters fled, as fast as they could, to the mountains, and they 
took refuge there in a little city called Zoar. 



22 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 




Now Abrain and Sarai 
had been living for about 
eight years in the land to 
which God had told them 
to go, and still they had no 
child, although God had 
promised to make Abram 
the father of a great na- 
tion. And Sarai had a 
maid, named Hagar, an 
Egyptian woman, and she 
told Abram that it would 
be well for him to take Hagar for a sort of second- 
ary wife, for perhaps God would give a child to 
Hagar. It was not thought wrong in those days for a 
man to have more than one wife, and Abram did as 
Sarai had advised. And after a time Hagar had a little 
son, called Ishmael, and Abram loved him very much. 
But when Ishmael was about thirteen years old God 
appeared to Abram and told him that he was to be the 
father of another son, and Sarai its mother, and that son 
would be the father of a great nation, through which should 
come a blessing to all the world. And as a token of this God 
changed Abram's name to Abraham, which means "father of a multitude," and 
Sarai's name was changed to Sarah, which means "a princess." 

Abraham believed God, though it must have been hard to believe when he had 
already waited so long and was now ninety-nine years old. It is because of his great 
faith that he is called " the father of the faithful" and "the friend of God." And & God 
made a covenant with Abraham, and promised to be a God to him and to his children 
and to give them all that land of Canaan for their own. 

Not long after this, as Abraham sat in his tent door in the heat of the day, he saw 
three men coming towards him. Abraham thought that they were men, but in fact two 
of them were angels, and one was the Lord. Abraham ran to meet them, and asked 
them to stop and rest in his tent; and he went to Sarah and told her to hasten and bake 
some cakes of fine flour, while he had one of his young men kill a calf and cook it. 
When all was ready, Abraham carried the food out and placed it before the three men, 
and waited upon them while thev ate. 

When they had finished eating they asked where Sarah was, and they told Abra- 
ham that at that time the next year Sarah should have a little son. Sarah was stand- 
ing behind the tent door, and she heard what was said, but she could not believe it, for 
she and Abraham were now old, and she had long given up the hope of a son. So 
Sarah laughed, not believing what the men said. But the Lord said, "Why does 



■y 






THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY, 



2 3 



Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for the Lord?" Then Sarah said, "I did not 
lau°di," for she was afraid; but she did not know that it was the Lord to whom 
she spoke. 

The next year Sarah had a little son, as the Lord had promised, and then she and 
Abraham were very happy. They called their little son Isaac, as God had told them to 
do; and when Isaac was weaned they made a great feast and rejoiced very much. 

By this time Ishmael had grown to be a pretty large boy, and something that he 
did or said at the weaning-feast made Sarah displeased with him, and she told her 
husband to send away Ishmael and his mother, for she would not have the son of a 
bondwoman — as Hagar was — to be heir with her son Isaac. Abraham did not wish to 
do so unkind a thing, for he loved his son Ishmael, but Sarah insisted, and finally God 
spoke to him and told him to do as Sarah had said, for Isaac was the son of promise, 
and it was Isaac's descendants who were to be the nation of which should come the 
Saviour who was to bless the whole world. And God promised to take care of 
Ishmael, and to make him also the father of a great nation. 

So Abraham called Hagar and Ishmael, and gave them some food and a bottle of 
water, and sent them away into the wilderness. Hagar and Ishmael wandered about in 




24 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



the wilderness for a time, and at last the water in their bottle was all gone, and they 
could find no more. The hot sun streamed down upon them and parched them, and 
they suffered greatly. Then Hagar laid Ishmael down under one of the low shrubs 
that grow here and there in the wilderness, and she herself went and sat a little way 
off, for she thought that Ishmael was dying, and she could not bear to see him die. 

And she lifted up her voice and 
wept aloud in her great grief. 

Then a voice called aloud 
to her, " What aileth thee, Ha- 
gar ? Fear not, for God hath 
heard the voice of the lad where 
he is." 

It was an angel of the Lord 

who was speaking to Hagar, 

and he told her to go and lift 

up the lad and take care of 

him, for God was going to make 

him the father of a great nation. 

Then the Lord opened Ha- 

gar's eyes, and she saw a spring 

of water, and she went and 

filled her bottle with water, and 

carried it to Ishmael, and gave 

him to drink, and the boy grew strong again when he was refreshed 

' with the cool, clear water. 

God took care of Hagar and Ishmael, and when the boy grew to 
be a man, his mother took him a wife out of Egypt, which was her own 
country; and Ishmael became the father of twelve sons, and they had many 
descendants. The descendants of Ishmael are called Arabs: there are very many of 
them to this day in Arabia and other parts of Asia. They worship the true God, but 
they do not believe in his son Jesus Christ, but in a man called Mohammed, who 
lived about twelve hundred years ago, whom they call the Prophet of God. The 
Arabs are a wandering people, who still live in tents as their forefather Ishmael did. 

Abraham and Sarah and Isaac lived happily together until Isaac was grown to be a 
large boy, and then a great trial came to Abraham. God wanted to test his faith still 
farther, and he therefore gave him a command that was very hard to obey. He said to 
Abraham, "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and offer him 
for a burnt-offering upOn one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." 

Did Abraham obey God, when He asked of him so hard a thing as this? Yes; 
though he could not see how God's promise to make him the father of a great nation 
was to be kept if he offered Isaac for a burnt-offering, Abraham knew that nothing 
was too hard for the Lord, and he had faith that God would keep all his promises. 




26 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



And so, early the next morning, Abraham arose, and saddled his ass, and called 
Isaac and two of his young men, and made ready some wood for the offering, and they 
set forth. For two days they journeyed, and on the third day Abraham saw the place 
that God had told him of. Then Abraham told the young men to stay where they 
were, with the ass, while he and Isaac went and worshipped God. And he laid the 
wood upon Isaac's shoulders, and be took a knife and fire in his hand, and they went 
up the mountain together. 

Then Isaac said, " My father, here are the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb 
for a burnt-offering?" And Abraham answered, " My son, God will provide himself a 
lamb for the burnt-offering." So they went on togetber. 

When they had come to the place, Abraham built an altar and laid the wood upon 




it, and then he bound Isaac's hands and placed him on the altar, and reached out his 
hand for the knife. 

Suddenly a voice called to him, " Abraham ! Abraham ! Lay not thine hand upon 
the lad, neither do thou anything unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, 
seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me." 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



27 



Then Abraham saw a ram, caught in the thicket by his horns, and he killed the 
ram and offered it for a burnt-offering upon the altar. And Isaac and he went back to 
where the young men were, and they all went home happily together. And God spoke 
to Abraham again, and repeated all the promises he had made to him before, sayino- 
that his descendants should be a great nation, and that one of them should bless the 
whole world. That one was Jesus Christ, who was born more than eighteen hundred 
years later, and whose mother was a descendant of Abraham. 

Some years after this Sarah died, and was buried in a cave called the cave of Mach- 

pelah. Isaac mourned much for 

his mother, for he loved her very 

dearly. Isaac and his father lived 

on together among their people, 

but Abraham was growing very 

old, and he wanted to see Isaac 

married before he died. He did 

not wish Isaac to marry one of the 

daughters of the people of that 

country, for they all worshipped 

idols. He therefore called his 

steward, who was over all his 

people, and told him to take 

camels and servants, and go back 

to Haran in Mesopotamia, where 

his brother Nahor's family lived, 

and get a wife for Isaac from 

among his cousins there. 

Then the steward took ten camels, and servants 

and provisions and rich presents for his master's 

relatives, and set out; and in time they came to the city 

where Nahor lived, and sat down by a well, which was 

outside of the city, to rest. It was the custom for the 

daughters even of the richest men to draw the water for the 

family use and for their fathers' flocks, and the man prayed 

: that when the young women came to draw water, if he asked 

one of them for a drink of water, and she not only gave him to 

drink, but also offered to draw water for his camels, that this 

one might be the woman whom God had chosen for Isaac's wife. 

Very soon a beautiful young woman came down to the well 

and filled her water-jar. And the man went to her and begged for a drink of water 

from her jar. Then the girl said, "Drink, my lord," and when he had drunk she drew 

water and filled the trough that was placed there for the flocks to drink from. 

The man wondered in himself at all this, and when she had finished drawing 




28 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 




the water, he took out a beautiful nose-ring of gold, such as was worn in those days, 
and a pair of heavy gold bracelets, and gave them to her, and asked her whose daughter 
she was. She answered that she was the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor. And 
then she invited the man to go home with her to her father's house and lodge there. 
This was the custom of those times, for there were no inns or hotels in those days. 
At this the man thanked God for having brought him to the house of his master's 
relatives; and when the girl heard him she ran home and told her mother, and her 
brother Laban went and brought the man and his servants and his, camels to the house. 

When he had told them that he was Abraham's servant, and that he had come for a 
wife for his master's son, and how he had prayed, and the answer to his prayer, they 
were much surprised. They asked Rebekah if she would go and be Isaac's wife, and 
she said she would go. Then the man gave rich presents to Rebekah, and to her mo- 
ther and brother, and the next morning Rebekah and her nurse, Deborah, and her 
waiting- women, set out with the steward to go to Canaan. 

After several days of travelling, one evening Rebekah saw a man walking in the 
fields. It was Isaac, who had gone out to walk and think, and he looked up and saw 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



29 




the camels, and knew that his father's steward had come back. When Rebekah saw 
Isaac she got down from the camel and put on a long veil, and Isaac came to meet her 
and took her into his mother's tent, and she became his wife, and Isaac was comforted 
for his mother's death. 

It was twenty years before Isaac and Rebekah had children, and then twin sons 

were born to them. Their names were Esau 
and Jacob. As they grew older, Esau became 
a great hunter ; but Jacob was of a more quiet 
mind, and liked better to stay at home with 
his mother. Esau was his father's favorite, 
but Rebekah loved Jacob best. Esau was the 
elder of the two twins, and therefore the birth- 
right or headship of the family belonged by 
right to him, but he cared little about it, and 
Rebekah was very anxious that her favorite, 
Jacob, should have it. Finally, one day when 
Esau came in from hunting, very hungry, he 
saw Jacob eating a pottage of red lentiles, and 
begged for some. Jacob would not give him 
any until Esau promised to sell his birthright 
for it, and Esau, saying to himself that if he 
starved to death the birthright would be of no use, sold it to Jacob for a mess of pottage. 
By this time Isaac was getting old and his eyes were growing dim, and one day 
he called Esau, and told him to take his bow and go hunting, and kill a deer and make 
him a savory dish such as he loved, that he might give him his blessing before he died. 
Rebekah heard what Isaac said, and she wanted Jacob to have the blessing, and so as 
soon as Esau was gone she called Jacob, and told him to go and kill two kids and bring 
them to her, and she would make a savory dish of them for him to take to his father, 
that he might bless him. Jacob was almost afraid to do this: he said that Esau was 
a hairy man and he was a smooth man, and his father would find out the deceit and 
would curse, instead of blessing him. But his mother urged him, and he went and 
killed the kids. Then his mother made the savory dish, and she took the skins of 
the kids and put them on Jacob's hands and on the smooth part of his neck, and 
she bade him put on some of Esau's clothes, and sent him to his father with the savory 
dish. When Jacob came to his father, Isaac asked him who he was, and Jacob an- 
swered, "I am Esau, thy first-born." Isaac was surprised at his coming so soon, and 
asked him how he could have found the venison so quick, and Jacob answered, because 
God had brought it to him. So one lie leads to another. 

Still Isaac could not feel satisfied, and he bade his son come near that he might feel 
Trim. When he had felt his hands, he said, " The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands 
are the hands of Esau." And he thought it must be Esau, so he ate the meat, and 
afterward he blessed Jacob, asking of God all his richest blessings, and that this son 



n 



3° 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



might be lord over his brethren, and that every one should be blessed who blessed him, 
and cursed who cursed him. 

Jacob had hardly risen from his knees and gone out, when Esau came in with his 




savory meat and asked for his father's blessing. Isaac was much surprised and 
trembled greatly and said, "Who? Where then is he that hath taken venison and 
brought it to me, and I have eaten, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed." 
Then Esau knew that his brother had gained the blessing by a trick. He cried with a 
very bitter cry, " Bless me, even me also, O my father !" And Isaac did bless him, but 
not with such a blessing as he had given to Jacob. 

Then Esau hated Jacob, and he said that his father would soon die, and then he 
would kill Jacob. Rebekah heard that Esau had said this, and she called Jacob and 
told him to go away to Padan-aram, in Mesopotamia, and live with her brother until his 
brother's fury was over, and then she would send for him to come back. So Jacob bade 
his father and mother good-by, and set forth alone by himself. 

He travelled all day, and when night came he took a stone for his pillow and lay 
down to sleep. And he dreamed that there was a ladder reaching up to heaven, and 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



3i 



that the augels of God were ascending and descending on it. And he dreamed that he 
saw God above the ladder, and that God spoke to him and told him that he was the 
God of his fathers, Abraham and Isaac, and that he would give to Jacob the land that 
he was lying on, and that he should be the father of a great nation, in whom all the 
earth should be blessed. And God told Jacob that he would be with him in all his 
journeyings. 

When Jacob awoke he said, " How dreadful is this place ! This is none other but 




the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." And he took the stone which had 
been his pillow and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon it, and he called the place 
Bethel, which means the house of God. This was the very place where Abraham had 
lived long years before, when he had first parted company with Lot. And Jacob made 
a promise to God that if he would go with him and watch over him, he would take him 
for his God, and would give a tenth of all that he had to God. 

Then Jacob went on and came to Padan-aram, and sat down by the well. There 
were flocks of sheep all around the well waiting to be watered, and Jacob asked the 



32 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



shepherds if they knew Laban, and they said that they did, and that his daughter 
Rachel was just then coining with her father's sheep. And Jacob saw a beautiful girl 
leading a flock of sheep, and Jacob went and rolled away the stone from the well's 
mouth and watered her flocks, and then he kissed her and told her that he was her 
cousin, and he wept for joy at seeing her. 

Rachel ran and told her father, and he ran to meet Jacob, and invited him to go 
home with him. And Jacob went and stayed with him for about a month, helping him 
with the care of his flocks. At the end of that time Laban asked Jacob what wages he 
wanted for serving him. Now Laban had two daughters — Leah and Rachel. Rachel 
was the younger and prettier of the two, and Jacob loved her, so he said that he would 
serve Laban seven years for Rachel. Laban agreed to this, and Jacob served him seven 
years, and they seemed only a few days, so dearly did he love Rachel, and so wil- 
ling was he to do anything to win her for his wife. 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



33 



At the end of the seven years Laban made a great wedding feast and gave his 
daughter to Jacob. The girl was closely veiled, as was the custom, and it was not 
until after they were married that Jacob discovered that it was not the beautiful and 
beloved Rachel, but her sister Leah, who 
had been given him. Of course he was ff" 
displeased and spoke sharply to Laban; but 
Laban said it was not the custom of the 
country to let the younger sister be married 
before the elder, and that Jacob might have 
Rachel too if he would serve seven years 
more for her. This Jacob promised to do, 
and a week after his marriage to Leah he 
married Rachel, and worked seven years 
more to pay for her. 

Leah became the mother of four sons, 
but Rachel had no children. As she great- 
ly longed for a son, she finally asked Jacob 
to take her maid Bilhah for a secondary 
wife, as Abraham had taken Hagar, that she 
might adopt Bilhah's children for her own. 
Jacob did so, and Bilhah had two sons. But 
when Leah saw this she also gave her maid 
£ilpah to her husband for a wife, and Zil- 
pah also had two sons; and after that Leah 
herself had two more sons and a daughter. 
Finally God heard Rachel's prayers, and 
sent her a little son of her own. Rachel's 
baby was named Joseph, and he had a very wonderful history, as we shall see. 

Jacob had now lived twenty years with Laban, serving him faithfully all the time, 
and although Laban had been unfair to him in other matters besides that of his 
wives, and had changed his wages many times, yet the Lord had so blessed and pros- 
pered Jacob that he was a very rich man. And now the time had come when God 
wanted Jacob to go back to his own country. A great deal had happened during the 
twenty years that he had been gone. His old father Isaac still lived, his brother Esau 
had become a rich and powerful sheik, or head of a tribe, but his doting mother Rebekah 
was dead, and he would never see her again. But the word of the Lord had come to 
him to go back to the land of Canaan, which was the Land of Promise; and he gathered 
together all his flocks and his herds, and the many servants who helped him take care of 
them, and set his wives and children upon camels, and went forth. He travelled many 
days and came near to Canaan, but he was also drawing near to the borders of Edom, 
where his brother Esau lived. Jacob sent messengers before him to tell his brother that 




he was coming, and to find out how he felt towards him. 

5 



The messengers soon came 



34 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



back to say that they had met Esau, and he was coming to meet them with four 
hundred men. 

Is it surprising that Jacob was afraid ? Was it likely that Esau had forgotten the 
mean trick he had played upon him twenty years before ? Jacob did the most prudent 
thing he could : he divided all his flocks and herds into two bands and sent them on by 
different roads, hoping that one band at least might escape his brother's anger. And he 
chose out a large number of sheep and goats and camels and cattle, more than five 
hundred in all, and put them in charge of servants, and sent them forward as a present 




for Esau, hoping in this way to turn away his anger. Then when all the flocks and 
herds had gone on he sent his wives and children across the brook Jabbok, at which 
they had arrived, and bade them spend the night there, while he himself stayed alone on 
the other side of the brook. 

What did he stay there for? Ah, Jacob knew that with all the care he had taken, 
the most important thing was yet to be done. He stayed alone that he might pray to 
God. And while he was praying, in an agony of dread of what Esau might do, and 
sorrow for what he himself had done twenty years before, an angel came and wrestled 
with him. Jacob understood what it meant: he was to put forth all his strength to 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 35 




overcome the angel, just as he must pray with all his heart if he was to get God's 
blessing. All night he wrestled with the angel, and when morning came he had 
prevailed. The angel gave him the blessing that he asked for, and he told him that he 
should no more be called Jacob, the Supplanter, but Israel, the Prince of God, "for as a 
prince hast thou had power with God, and hast prevailed." And Jacob called the 
name of that place Peniel, the Face of God, for he said, " I have seen God face to face, 
and my life has been preserved." 

The sun was rising when the angel left him, and he crossed over the brook and 
prepared to meet his brother. He put his wives and children upon camels, first the two 
handmaids, Bilhah and Zilpah, and their children, then Leah and her children, and 
behind them all, in the safest place, the well-beloved Rachel and Joseph. Then he 
went before them, for Esau and his train were already in sight, and he bowed himself 
seven times before his brother. 

And what did Esau do ? Bid his soldiers fall upon him and kill him ? No, he ran 
and met him and fell on his neck, and both the brothers wept together, tears of forgive- 
ness and of penitence and joy. 



36 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



Then Jacob brought his wives and children to speak to his brother, and Esau asked 
him what was the meaning of the drove of cattle that he had met. Jacob told him it 
was for a present; and Esau at first refused it, saying that he had enough, but when 
Jacob urged him he took it. 

Then Jacob went on, stopping for a time at various places, but all the time going 
on to the south, to Hebron where his old father Isaac lived. On the way a great sorrow 
came to him; for his dear wife Rachel died as they were coming to Bethlehem — the 
place where Jesus Christ was afterwards born. She left a little baby boy, called Benja- 
min, and he was the delight and comfort of Jacob's old age. 

Soon after this Jacob came to Hebron, and stayed with Isaac until he died. Esau 
came too, and the two sons buried their father in the cave of Machpelah, beside 
Rebekah, and near to Abraham and Sarah. 

After this Israel, or Jacob, lived in Canaan, and his sons took charge of his flocks 
and herds, very much as he had taken care of those of Laban, when he was a younger 
man. They led them now to this part of the country, now to that, as they could best 

find pasture for such great numbers of 
creatures. Joseph, whose mother was 
dead, was now seventeen years old, and 
he spent much time with his . older 
brethren, going home at times to his 
father and his little brother Benjamin. 
The older brothers did not like Joseph: 
partly because he told their father of 
various wrong things that they did, 
and partly because he was their father's 
favorite. Jacob did not try to hide the 
fact that he loved Joseph better than 
his other sons. He made him dress 
differently from his brethren, not in the 
short shepherd's coat which they wore, 
but in the long robe with sleeves, and 
often of many colors, which princes 
wore. Worse than all, to his brothers, 
was the fact that Joseph dreamed 
strange dreams, which seemed to show 
that he expected to have some better 
lot in life than theirs. Once he told 
his brothers he had dreamed that they 
were all binding sheaves in the field, 
and that his sheaf stood up and all their sheaves bowed to it. Again he dreamed that 
the sun and moon and eleven stars bowed down to him. Even his father reproved him 
for telling such a dream, and his brothers could not speak even peaceably to him. 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



37 



One day, as the brothers with their flocks had been gone from home for some time, 
Israel bade Joseph go after them and find out how they were. It was some time before 
Joseph found them, for they had moved about several times, but finally he saw them at 




a little distance. They, too, saw him, and they said to one another, "Behold, this 
dreamer cometh. Come now, therefore, let us slay him and cast him into some pit; 
and we will say, An evil beast hath devoured him; and we shall see what will become of 
his dreams." But Reuben, the eldest brother, was not willing to do anything quite so 
wicked, and so he said, " L,et us not kill him, but cast him into this pit." Reuben 



3» 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



meant to come back after the others 
were gone, and take his young brother 
out of the pit, and take him back to 
his father again. 

All the brothers agreed to cast him 
into the pit, and so when he came up 
they seized him, and stripped off his 
fine coat that his father had given him, 
and cast him into the pit. Then they 
sat down to eat their dinner. 

After a while Reuben went away 
for some purpose, and while he was 
gone a company of Ishmaelites passed 
by. They were going down to Egypt 
to sell spices and balm and myrrh. 
And Judah, the fourth brother in age, 
said to his brothers, "What profit is it 
if we slay our brother and conceal his 
blood ? Come, let us sell him to the 
Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be 
upon him, for he is our brother." 

All the brothers liked this plan, 
and they drew up Joseph out of the 
pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 
went on their way to Egypt carrying their 





twenty pieces of silver, and the Ishmaelites 

new slave with them. 

After a time Reuben came 
back and looked into the pit, 
but no Joseph was there. Then 
he rent his clothes, as a sign 
of his distress, and went to his 
brothers and told them that Jo- 
seph was gone. They probably 
told him that it was of no use 
for him to make any trouble 
about it, as it was then too late 
to help it, for he joined with 
them in the next act of their 
wicked scheme, and said no 
more about saving his young 
brother. They killed a kid and 
dipped Joseph's coat into the 
blood, and when they went back 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



39 



to their father they carried the coat with them, and said to him, " This have we found; 
know now whether it be thy son's coat or no." 

Jacob knew the coat well — the beautiful coat that he had had made with such pride 
and love for his favorite son. "It is my son's coat," he answered: "an evil beast 
hath devoured him. Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces." 

Then the poor old father rent his clothes and mourned bitterly for the dear son, 
whom he never hoped to see again. All his sous and his daughters tried to comfort 

him. How could those 
wicked sons see their 
father's deep grief and 
not tell him the truth? 
Their hearts must have 
been hard indeed, for 
they did not confess 
their sin, though their 
father refused to be 
comforted, and said 
that he should mourn 
for Joseph as long as 
he lived. And indeed 
it was many years that 
Jacob mourned for his 
son Joseph. 

And where was Jo- 
seph all this time? The Ishmaelites carried him to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, 
who is called in the Bible the captain of the guard, and who was probably the chief of 
police of the whole kingdom. This was a very important office, and the man who held 
it was called " the two eyes of the king of Upper Egypt, and the two ears of the king 
of Lower Egypt," because he was as necessary to the king as his eyes and his ears. 
He had the charge of all prisons and prisoners and of all punishments and executions. 

In this great man's house Joseph behaved so well, and served so honestly and 
faithfully, that he was trusted more and more, until at last Potiphar gave him charge 
over everything. And now Joseph, though he must have longed for his father and his 
home, would still have been very happy if Potiphar's wife had not been a very wicked 
woman and tried to make Joseph wicked too. In this she could not succeed: Joseph 
would not betray his master's trust; and when she found this to be so, his mistress 
became very angry with Joseph, and told wicked falsehoods to her husband about him. 
Potiphar believed his wife, and he gave command that Joseph should be shut up in 
prison. 

But even in the prison Joseph behaved so well that the jailer soon learned to trust 
him, and gave him charge over the other prisoners. Now there were two famous 
prisoners at that time : one was chief butler and the other was chief baker of 




40 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



Pharaoh, the king. One day, when Joseph came into their dungeon, he found them 
very sad. When he asked what was the matter, they told him that they had both 
dreamed strange dreams which they could not understand. They told Joseph their 
dreams. The chief butler said that he had dreamed that a vine had three branches, and 
it budded and brought forth ripe grapes: and Pharaoh's cup was in his hand, and he 
pressed the juice of the grapes into the cup and gave it to Pharaoh. Then Joseph told 
him that the three branches meant three days, and in three days he should be taken out 
of prison, and should be the king's chief butler as he had been before. 

When the chief baker heard this he hoped that his dream had a good meaning too. 
And he began to tell it. He 
had dreamed that he had 
three baskets of baked meats 
for Pharaoh on his head, and 
the birds came and ate out 
of the baskets. Then Joseph 
said that the three baskets 
meant three days, and in 
three days the chief baker 
would be taken out of prison 
and hanged on a tree, and the 
birds would eat his flesh off 
his bones. 

Joseph asked the chief 
butler to think of him when 
things went well with him, 
and try to get him released 
from prison, and the chief 

butler promised. But though both dreams came true, and in three days the chief butler 
was restored to his office, yet did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. 

So Joseph stayed on in prison, doing his duty and trusting in God, but often 
wondering why the chief butler had forgotten him. But God had not forgotten him, 
though the chief butler had, and at the right time he caused things to happen so that 
Joseph should be taken out of prison. 

It was two full years after Joseph had interpreted these dreams, when one night 
Pharaoh had two dreams that troubled him very much. He sent for all the wise men 
in Egypt, but none of them could interpret these dreams. 

Then the chief butler remembered Joseph, and told the king of the young man in 
the prison who had interpreted dreams so wonderfully. And the king gave orders that 
Joseph should be seut for. Joseph was summoned as hastily as possible, and as soon as 
he had washed and shaved and changed his clothes, he was brought before Pharaoh. 

When Pharaoh saw him he said, " I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that 
can interpret it." 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



4i 




Joseph answered, " It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace." 
Then Pharaoh told his dream. He had dreamed that he was walking by the river 
Nile, which the Egyptians held to be sacred, since all their life depended on the over- 
flowing of that river regularly every year. In Pharaoh's dream he had seen seven fine 
fat cows come up out of the river and feed in a meadow. And then seven other cows, 
very lean and ill-looking, came up also out of the river, and they ate up the seven fat 
cows; and when they had eaten them, they were just as lean and ill-looking as before. 
Then Pharaoh awoke, but he soon slept again, and dreamed that he saw seven fine full 
ears of wheat on one stalk, and seven thin ears, blasted with east wind, on another stalk: 
and the seven thin ears devoured the seven full ears. So he awoke. 

Joseph told Pharaoh that both dreams meant the same thing; that there were 
going to be seven years of plenty, when everything would grow and bear a great deal of 
frnit, and after that seven years of famine, when very little would grow. And Joseph 
6 



42 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



advised Pharaoh to select some wise man to be over all the land, to take up the fifth 
part of all that grew during the years of plenty, and put it away in barns against the 
years of famine. 

Pharaoh was pleased with this plan, and he said that there could be no wiser man 
than Joseph, in whom the Spirit of God was, and he made him the head over all the 

land of Egypt, second only to 
himself. And he took off his 
signet ring and put it on Jo- 
seph, and had him clad in 
royal robes of fine white linen, 
and a gold chain hung around 
his neck, and made him ride 
in his own second chariot, and 
sent some one before him 
through the crowded streets 
to cry, "Bow the knee !" when 
he drove through the city. 

What a change for Joseph, 
from the dark, damp dungeon 
to a palace and fine clothes 
and the king's second chariot ! 
And still more, what a change 
from the care of a few miser- 
able prisoners to the oversight and government of a whole nation. But Joseph had 
done his duty faithfully both in the prison and in Potiphar's house, and that was a good 
preparation for doing his duty in the palace. 

Joseph had great storehouses built, and there he stored away quantities of corn 
against the years of famine. The king had given Joseph a new name, Zaphnath-paa- 
neah, and he had given him for a wife the daughter of a very notable priest; and during 
these seven years of plenty two little sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, were born to him. 

At the close of those years came on the years of famine. When the people had 
eaten up all that they themselves had saved, they came to Joseph, and he opened his 
great barns and sold them corn. The news that "there was corn in Egypt" spread 
very far, and people came from long distances to buy. 

Among these strangers came a group of men that attracted Joseph's notice. They 
were ten strong, fine-looking men, who spoke another language than that of Egypt. 
Joseph knew that language well, and he knew the men too, though he had not seen 
them for twenty years. They were his brothers. 

The men never dreamed that the great man on whom all their lives depended was 
the boy whom they had sold as a slave. And Joseph did not tell them, for he wanted to 
test them first. He spoke roughly to them, and pretended to think that they were spies 
from some distant country. The brothers told him that they were not spies, that they 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



43 




were all one man's sons, and 
one of their brothers was dead, 
and the other, the youngest, 
was at home with their father. 
This was what Joseph most 
wanted to know, that his father 
and Benjamin were still alive. 
Still he must test them farther, 
and he said that he would not 
believe them till he saw that 
youngest brother, and that one 
of them must remain as a host- 
age until the others went and 
brought Benjamin. At this 
they said to one another that 
this was what they deserved 
for their treatment of their 
brother Joseph. They did not 

dream that Joseph understood them, for he had always spoken to them by an inter- 
preter; but he did understand, and he had to go away and weep alone, so much did it 
move him. 

Then he came back and bound Simeon before their eyes, and gave command that 
the sacks of the others should be filled with corn and that provision should be given 
them for the journey, that they might go home. He also gave secret orders that every 
man's money should be put in the mouth of his sack. 

When they opened their sacks while on the journey they were surprised and fright- 
ened to find their money. And when they came home and told the whole story to their 
father he told them that they ought not to have said a word about Benjamin, and that 
Benjamin should not go back with them. "Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye 
will take Benjamin away. All these things are against me, ' ' said the sad-hearted old father. 

But when the corn was all gone, and their father bade them go again and buy food, 
they told him that they could not go without Benjamin. And Judah asked his father 
to trust the boy with him, and he would be surety for his safe return. There was noth- 
ing to do but to consent. The brothers took a present for the man whom they so much 
feared, and double money for the corn ; and they took Benjamin and went down to 
Egypt and stood before Joseph. When Joseph saw Benjamin he sent them to his 
house, telling them that they were to dine with him that day. At first they were 
afraid; but the ruler of the house spoke kindly to them, and gave them water to 
wash their feet, and brought out Simeon to them. So they took courage, and made 
ready the present they had brought for the great man against his coming at noon 
to dinner. 

When he came he spoke kindly to them, and asked after their father, and said to 



44 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR V. 



Benjamin, "God be gracious to thee, my son." And then he had to hasten away, 
for he could not control his tears at sight of his brother Benjamin. 

When he had wept and washed his face, he came back, and they sat down to 
dinner, Joseph at a separate table. But first he seated them, according to their ao-es 
and at this they wondered. When he sent food to them from his table he sent five 
times as much to Benjamin as to the others, for this was the way of showing favor in 
those days. But they were not jealous of Benjamin, and they had a very merry dinner. 

We can imagine how happy the brothers were to set out the next morning, all safe 
and sound, and both Simeon and Benjamin with them. But their happiness was 

short. Thev had not gone far 



^WM'\ WCiWWTii 



^ - iiiii^ p 



when they were overtaken by 
the steward, who asked them 
why they had stolen his lord's 
silver cup. With one voice 
they all denied it, and they 
bade the steward search their 
sacks, saying that if he could 
find it he might take them all 
back for slaves. The steward 
said, Not so, but he with 
whom the cup was found 
should go back for a slave, 
and the rest might go home. 
Then the eldest brother opened 
his sack, and the next, and 
the next. Finally Benjamin 
opened his sack, and to their 
horror there was the cup, for the steward had put it there by Joseph's command. 

Then they all rent their clothes and went back with the steward to the city. They 
went straight to the great man, and fell down before him, and then Judah spoke. 
He told the whole story of their father's love for Benjamin, of his grief for the son who 
"was not," and he went over the story of all that had led to Benjamin's coming, and 
how their father had said that if Benjamin came not back it would bring down his gray 
hairs in sorrow to the grave. And Judah told how he had made himself surety for the 
lad to his father, and begged that he might remain as a slave instead of Benjamin: 
"Now, therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad, a bondman to 
my lord, and let the lad go up with his brethren. For how shall I go up to my 
father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on 
my father. ' ' 

Then Joseph could not refrain any longer, and he cried to all the Egyptians that 
stood by to go out. And when they were gone out, he wept aloud; and he said, " I am 
Joseph: doth my father yet live?" At first his brothers were too much frightened to 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



45 




answer, but when they saw his tears, and heard his kind and forgiving words, they 
rushed into his arms, and embraced and kissed him, and they all wept together. 

Soon the news got abroad that Joseph's brethren were come, and Pharaoh heard it, 
and he sent word to Joseph to send for his father, and his brothers' families, and keep 
them in Egypt through the five years of famine that were yet to come. So Joseph gave 
his brothers rich presents and sent them home for their families; and he sent wagons up 
from Egypt for his father and for his brothers' wives and children. 

When the brothers reached their home in Canaan and said to their father, "Joseph 
is alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt," he could not believe it. But 
when he saw the presents, and the wagons that had been sent for him, he believed, and 
said, " It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die." 

So the whole family of Israel went down to Egypt. And when they drew near to 
the border of the country, Judah went on in advance to tell Joseph that they were 
coming. Then Joseph ordered his chariot and hastened to meet his dear old father; 



4 6 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



and as soon as he saw him he fell on his neck and wept. And Israel said to Joseph, 
"Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive." He felt 
that he had nothing more to ask for; but there was much of happiness and comfort 
yet in store for the good old man before he died. 

Then Joseph went and told Pharaoh that his family had come, and he took five 
of his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. The king asked Joseph's brothers 
what their occupation was, and they told him that they were shepherds. Then Pharaoh 
allotted to them a certain district called the land of Goshen, where they could live 
and pasture their flocks and herds, and he bade Joseph select the most capable among 
them to have the charge over the royal shepherds and herdsmen. 

After this Joseph took his father 
to see Pharaoh. Jacob was a very old 
man by this time: he told Pharaoh that 
he was a hundred and thirty years old. 
Pharaoh treated the noble old man with 
great respect, and Jacob blessed Pha- 
raoh. 

All through the time of famine Jo- 
seph saw to it that his father and bro- 
thers had no lack of food. When the 
famine was over they still remained in 
Egypt, and as the land of Goshen was 
one of the most fertile parts of Egypt, 
they soon became very prosperous. And 
now at last the troubled life of Jacob 
became calm and peaceful. Old as he 
was when he went to Egypt, he lived 
for seventeen years longer, with no care 
or sorrow, a serene and happy old age. 

Still Jacob looked back with loving 
memory to his old home in the land of 
Canaan. He never forgot that it was 
the Land of Promise, the land which 
God had promised Abraham that his 
descendants should inherit. And though he did not wish to go back there himself, 
he wanted to be buried there beside his father and grandfather; and one day when 
Joseph came to see him he begged Joseph to promise that he should be buried in 
Canaan, and Joseph promised. Joseph went often to see his father, we may believe, 
for he loved him very tenderly, but he was very much occupied with the affairs of the 
kingdom, not only during the five years of famine that yet remained, but even after 
that. Joseph managed very wisely for the king's interests, and proved to be one of the 
greatest rulers that had yet lived, and as the kingdom was a very great and powerful 




^^^iPiBP, 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



47 




one, he had many cares. 
But he never forgot his 
own relatives, nor neg- 
lected anything that was 
for their good. 

One day it was told 
to Joseph that his father 
was ill; so Joseph took 
his two sons, Manasseh 
and Ephraim, and went 
to see his father. Jacob 
kissed and embraced 
them, and then they knelt 
to receive his blessing, 
Manasseh at his right 
hand and Ephraim at 

his left. Jacob laid his hands on their heads, but he crossed them, laying the right 
hand on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and the left hand on the head of 
Manasseh, the elder. Joseph tried to change the hands, but his father said No: the 
tribe of Ephraim was to be greater than that of Manasseh. Then he blessed the boys, 
praying that the God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, might be their God. 

After this his sons gathered around his bedside and he blessed each one of them, 
telling them something of what should happen to their children in later days. And 
he bade them not bury him in Egypt, but take his body up to Canaan, and bury it in 
the cave of Machpelah, where Abraham and Sarah his wife had been buried, and Isaac 

and Rebekah his wife, and 
where he had buried Leah. 
And when Jacob was dead, all 
his sons went with his body to 
Canaan. A great many Egyp- 
tians went with them, and they 
mourned for Jacob many days; 
so much so that the inhabitants 
of Canaan called the place Abel- 
mizraim, or the mourning of the 
Egyptians. When the mourning 
was ended, Jacob's sons went 
back to Egypt, for it was the 
will of God that they should 
stay in that country for a time; 
and there they remained for 
many years. 




4 8 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



tJob. 

Now there was a man named Job, who lived in a country eastward from where 
Abraham and his descendants lived. Job was a very rich man, and had great flocks and 
herds and many servants, and he had seven sons and three daughters. And Job was a 
very good man: he loved and trusted God, and believed that all His ways were right. 

Then God tested Job, as he had tested Abraham, though not with the same trial, for 
he wanted to show to everybody that Job did not serve God simply because God pros- 
pered him, and he wanted to show even to Job himself what a strong power there is in 
faith in God to keep the soul iu heavy trial. 




One day, when Job's sons and daughters were all feasting in their eldest brother's 
house, a messenger came to Job and told him that the Sabeans, a wild tribe of the 
desert, had come upon the servants who had the charge of his oxen and asses, and had 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



49 




killed all the servants and carried away the cattle, and only this one man had escaped to 
bring the news. 

While he was speaking, another came and told him that all his flocks and herds, 
and the servants who took care of them, had been struck by lightning-, and he only had 



50 THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 

escaped to bring the news. Before he had finished his story, another came, who said 
that three bands of Chaldeans had come upon the men who kept the camels, and had 
killed them and carried away the camels. And while he was speaking, yet another 
came, and told him that a tornado had suddenly come up, and had wrecked his son's 
house, and all his sons and daughters had perished in the ruins. 

When Job heard that he had thus been bereft, in a single day, of all his children 
and all his property, he rent his clothes and mourned, but not impatiently, for he only 
said, "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the 
Lord." In all this trial Job had not one sinful or rebellious thought. 

Then God tried Job still further, for he caused him to have sore boils all over his 
body, so that he suffered dreadfully. And even his wife felt that he had a right to 
repine; but Job said, " What ! shall we receive good at the hand of the Lord and shall 
we not receive evil?" And still his faith in God stood firm. 

Now Job had three friends, and when they heard of his great sorrows they came to 
see him, and they sat down beside him and mourned with him for seven days. And at 
the end of that time Job spoke and bewailed his sad fate, but did not charge God with 
unkindness to him. But all his friends began to talk to him, and to tell him that he 
must have done something- wrong in secret, or God would not have sent such sorrows 
upon him. For a long time they talked thus, first one and then another, and Job 
answered each one, insisting that sorrows did not always come as the punishment for sin 
any more than riches and comforts always came as a reward for doing right: that there 
was much in God's dealings with us that we could not understand, because God is so 
high above us, but that God always did right, and he was willing that God should do 
with him what seemed best. While they were talking, a young man named Elihu came 
and joined them. It was very hard for Job to have his friends think that all his trials 
came as a punishment for some secret sin. Perhaps this trial was even harder to bear 
than all that had gone before. But even this he bore nobly, and kept true to his faith. 

Then God spoke to them all out of a whirlwind, and said that Job had spoken the 
thing that was right, and God reproved the three friends for their suspicions of Job 
and for their wrong thoughts about God. And he told them to bring some animals 
for a burnt-offering, in token that they were sorry for their wrong thoughts, and to 
ask Job to pray for them for God was pleased with Job. Then they offered the 
burnt-offering, and Job prayed for his friends, and God forgave them. 

And when Job prayed for the friends who had been so harsh to him in his time 
of trial, at once his troubles were over, for he had learned for himself and had shown 
to others the lesson that God wanted to teach. He got well from his sickness, and 
his brothers and sisters all came to see him, and each one gave him a piece of money 
and a gold ear-ring or nose-ring, so that he was able to buy more cattle and sheep and 
camels; and God blessed him and prospered him, so that in the end he had twice as many 
cattle and flocks and herds and camels and servants as he had had at first. And God 
gave him again seven sons and three daughters, and the last years of Job's life were 
very happy and blessed. 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



5i 



Exodus. 

The children of Israel stayed in Egypt a long time, several hundred years, until 
there were in all some three hundred thousand men, women, and children of them. 

By this time the memory of Joseph was forgotten, and the Pharaoh of that time — 
all Egyptian kings were called Pharaoh — felt no kindness towards the Israelites on 
his account. He saw that they were getting to be a great people, and he feared that 
in case of war they would join the enemies of Egypt. The land of Goshen, where the 
Israelites lived, was on the eastern boundary of Egypt, just where an army from anv 
other country would first meet the Egyptians, and the king thought that he could not 
trust the Israelites to be true to him in such a case. So he determined to break their 




spirits by hard work. He set them to making brick, to build treasure cities for him, 
and he put taskmasters over them to punish them when they did not do all that was set 
them to do. These taskmasters made the lives of the children of Israel very bitter with 
hard labor and cruel treatment. 

But this was not all. The king commanded that every boy-baby that was born 
should be thrown into the river. The girl-babies might be left alive, because there was 



52 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 




no danger of their joining the king's enemies when they grew up. Think of the sorrow 
in every home when every little boy-baby had to be drowned ! 

One mother resolved that her boy-baby should live. He was a lovely baby, large 
and strong, and she could not give him up, although she had another little boy named 
Aaron, three years old, who had been born before the cruel law was made. For three 
months she hid her baby in her own house;, but a healthy, crowing baby is not easily 
hid, and at last the mother dared keep him no longer. 

So she made a little ark, or basket, of the great paper-reeds that grew beside the 
river, and lined it with pitch to keep the water out, and there she laid her baby, and hid 
the ark among the reeds at the water-side, setting her little daughter Miriam to watch. 

After a time a train of ladies drew near. One of them was dressed more richly than 
the others, and the women around her waved fans above her in the air. It was the 
daughter of the king, who had come with her maidens to bathe in the river. The 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 53 

princess saw something strange among the reeds a little way off, and sent one of her 
maidens to see what it was. When the girl went, she found a covered basket, and when 
she opened it, there was a little baby ! 

The maiden brought the ark to the princess, and when she looked in the baby 
cried. That little voice touched the tender heart of the princess: she knew very well 
that this was one of the little babies who were to be drowned; but she could not help 
loving the baby, and she resolved to save it. 

Little Miriam saw and heard it all, and when she found that the princess was going 
to save the baby, she came out of her hiding-place and said, " Shall I go and call one of 
the Hebrew women for a nurse for the baby?" (The Israelites were also called 
Hebrews.) And the princess said, "Go." Miriam ran, and whom did she bring? 
Whom, indeed, but the baby's own mother ! 

Probably the kind princess suspected who the woman was who came so hastily to 
offer herself as nurse. But it would not have been safe to act as if she thought so, and 
all she said was, " Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages." 
And she called the baby's name Moses, which means drawn out, for she said, "I have 
drawn him out of the water. ' ' 

So little Moses stayed with his own dear mother until he was old enough to be 
educated, and then she took him back to the princess. She probably caused him to be 
educated in the famous university of Heliopolis, which was the greatest seat of learning 
in the world at that time; for the New Testament tells us that Moses was learned in all 
the wisdom of the Egyptians. But Moses knew that he was not an Egyptian, and 
when he grew old enough to understand them, his heart ached for all the troubles of his 
people. 

It is probable that he spent much of his time watching the Hebrews at their work, 
and thinking how he might free them from their hard bondage. He little thought 
by what mighty acts God was going to set them free. But the time for God to do so 
had not yet come. Moses had yet much to learn before God could use his help in free- 
ing his people. 

One day, as he was watching some Hebrews at their work, he saw an Egyptian 
taskmaster treating one of them very cruelly. Moses could not endure this sight, and 
he looked this way and that, and when he saw no one looking, he killed the Egyptian 
and hid his body in the sand. The next day he went out, and saw two Hebrews 
fighting, and he tried to stop them, saying to the one that was in the wrong, "Where- 
fore smitest thou thy fellow?" 

But the Hebrew answered, "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?" and 
asked him if he meant to kill him as he had killed the Egyptian. 

, Then Moses was afraid, and he fled afar off into the land of Midian. There he 
stayed for forty years: he married and had two sons, and took care of his father-in-law's 
flocks, and during all that time he thought much about his people, we may be sure. 

At last God appeared to him in a bush that burned with fire, yet without being 
burned up. God told him that the time had now come for the Israelites to go back 



54 THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 

to the Promised Land, and that Moses must go and tell Pharaoh to send them away, and 
that he must guide them back to Canaan. God told Moses that his brother Aaron was 
coming to meet him, and they must go to Pharaoh together. 

When Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him that Jehovah had sent them 




to tell him to let His people go, Pharaoh spoke very proudly and said, "Who is 
Jehovah, that I should obey him? I know not Jehovah, neither will I let Israel go." 

Then the Lord sent one plague after another upon the Egyptians — dreadful 
plagues which troubled the, whole people: but none of them came upon the Israelites. 
And at each plague Pharaoh would promise that if Moses would pray God to take the 
plague away he would let Israel go; and yet, as soon as it 'was taken away, he would 
harden his heart and not let them go after all. 

At last, when nine dreadful plagues had been sent upon them, God told Moses that 
he was going to send one more awful than any which had yet come, and that after that 
Pharaoh would keep his word. But first there was something for the children of Israel 
to do. God said that each family was to take a lamb and kill it on a certain day, and 
take some of its blood and put it on the lintel and door-posts of their houses. And then 
the lambs must be roasted, and when night came every member of each family must 



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55 



dress ready for a journey, and gather around the table and eat the lamb with a sauce 
made of bitter herbs. They were to eat it standing, and in haste, and they were not 
to take time for their bread to rise, but were to eat it unleavened, that is, not risen, 
as a sign of great haste. For on that night the Lord would send his angel to kill the 
first-born son in every house in Egypt, except in the houses where there was blood on 
the door-posts. The eldest sons in all the Israelite families would therefore be safe, if 
the fathers obeyed this command of God. 

All was done as God commanded, and the children of Israel ate their hasty meal in 
the dead of night. It was called the Passover, because the angel of the Lord was to 
pass over every house which had blood on the door. And while they were eating thev 
heard a loud and terrible cry. It went up from every Egyptian house in the land, from 




56 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



the king's palace to the meanest hut, for 
in all Egypt there was not a house where 
there was not one dead. 

The Egyptians were ready enough how 
to have the Israelites go. Even if the king 
had still hardened his heart his people 
would not have let them stay. But Pha- 
raoh wanted them to go, and he sent for 
Moses and Aaron, and told them to go at 
once, and take everything that they had. 
And the Egyptians urged them to take 
money and jewels and fine clothes and 
everything that they wanted, but only to 
go quickly. 

So the children of Israel went away 
that very night, and Moses led them up 
towards the Red Sea, and the Lord went 
before them in a pillar of fire to give them 
light. And when morning came the pillar 
became a pillar of cloud, to show them the 
way. 

They had not long been gone when 

Pharaoh again hardened his heart, and was 

sorry he had let them go. So he sent 

for his officers and told them to eet readv six hundred chariots, with horsemen and a 

great army, and chase after the Israelites and make them come back. And he had 

his own chariot made ready, and went with his army to chase after Israel. 

Before very long they came in sight of them, for the Israelites, with all their flocks 
and herds and little children, were obliged to go very slowly. They had got as far as 
the shore of an arm of the Red Sea, and there they were encamped. 

When the Israelites saw the Egyptians coming they were terrified, for they saw no 
way of escape: the water was before them and Pharaoh's army behind. And they said 
to Moses and Aaron, " Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken 
us away to die in the wilderness?" Moses, did not lose patience' when they spoke to 
him thus: he only said, " Fear ye not: stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." 

And what did they see? Moses standing by the sea shore and lifting up his rod, and 
the waters parting this way and that. And between the waters, dry land that they could 
walk on. For the Lord caused a very strong wind to blow, such a wind as they had 
never known before, and it drove the water away. It was an awful storm, with thunder 
and lightning and blackness of darkness; but terrible as it was, the children of Israel 
had light, for the Lord moved the pillar of fire, and placed it behind them, between 
them and the Egyptian army: so it gave light to the Israelites, but the cloudy side 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



57 



was towards the Egyptians, and it made the stormy night still darker and more awful 
to them. 

Thus the children of Israel walked safely through the bed of the sea, and reached 
the other shore. The Egyptians soon came down to the bank, and when they saw the 
dry land they too went down into the bed of the sea, to chase after the Israelites. But 
God troubled the Egyptians — their chariot wheels came off, and the 'fierce wind and 
dark clouds with their lightning flashes frightened them; so at last they utterly lost 
heart, and said, "The Lord is fighting for the Israelites: let us go back and not pursue 
them any more." 

Then they turned to go back: but it was too late. For now the last one of the 




children of Israel was safe on the other shore, and God told Moses to stretch out his rod 
over the sea. And when he did so, the wind ceased and the water flowed back again 
into its place, and with all their haste it was not possible for the Egyptians to reach the 
shore. The waters overtook them, and the whole army of the Egyptians, their chariots 
and their horsemen, were drowned in the depths of the sea. 
8 



58 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



Then Miriam, the sister of Moses, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the other 
women took timbrels, and they danced a sacred dance, as was the custom in those days, 
and they sang a song of triumph, " Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed glori- 
ously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." And Moses composed 
a beautiful song of thanksgiving which 
he and all the people sang before the 
Lord. 

And now began a very strange life 
for the children of Israel. These men 
and women and children, as long as 
they could remember, had lived in a 
perfectly level country, watered by the 
great river Nile, where were large cities 
in which everything that was needful 
could be bought for money. Now they 
had come into a region of high moun- 
tains and lonely deserts, where were no 
gardens or cornfields, no cities, nor, in- 
deed, any people except some wander- 
ing tribes. They were only eleven days' 
journey from Canaan, to be sure, but 
God did not wish them to go to Ca- 
naan at once. He wanted them to stay in that lonely country until he had taught 
them many things about himself, and how he wanted to be worshipped, and how they 
were to serve him. So he told Moses not to lead them by the shortest road to Canaan, 
but to take them around through a wild region, partly desert, and with many high 
mountains, where they would be alone with God. 

They could not buy food in such a wild and desolate country, but God was able to 
give them food. And as long as they needed it he rained manna down from heaven for 
them, and he made water to gush out where there was no water, so that the children of 
Israel never wanted for anything that was needful. And all the time that they were in 
the wilderness the pillar of cloud and of fire went before them. When it rested, they 
stopped and encamped, and when it went on, they went on. There was no danger of 
losing the way, for the Lord was their guide. 

In the third month after they had left Egypt they came to the high mountain called 
Sinai, and God told Moses to make them all camp at the foot of that mountain, and 
wash their clothes, and prepare their hearts; for he was coming down upon that 
mountain to give them his laws. And Moses was to set bounds, beyond which no 
person or beast must pass, for if they rashly came too near the presence of God they 
would die. And on the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick 
cloud over the mountain, and a smoke as if it were on fire, and a loud sound as of 
a trumpet. The people were full of awe and fear, but they came out of their tents and 




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59 



stood around the foot of the mountain, as 
Moses bade them, and God spake to them 
out of the cloud. 

Every child knows the words that God 
spoke to the Israelites on this solemn and 
awful day. I am the Lord thy God, wliicJi 
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of 
the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no 
other gods before me. And all the other of 
the ten commandments. It was these words 
that the people, standing in that wild and 
rocky valley high up among the moun- 
tains, heard coming from the thick clouds 
which covered the mighty peak that tow- 
ered above their heads. Could they ever 
forget that day, and the commandments of 
their God? 

Who would believe that within six 
weeks they would have forgotten, and 
would be worshipping a calf of gold as an 
imaK of God? And vet so it was. For 
after God had spoken the commandments, 
and the thunders and lightnings had ceased, 
the people went up to Moses and said, "Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but. 
let not God speak with us, lest we die." 

So God called Moses up into the cloud which was upon the mountain, to tell him 
all the things which he was to teach the children of Israel. And Moses remained up in 
the mountain with God for forty days and forty nights. And while he was there the 
people grew tired of waiting for him to come back, and they came to Aaron and 
told him that he must make them some gods to go before them, for they did not know 
what had become of Moses. And they were so unruly, and so noisy and troublesome 
that Aaron was afraid of them, and he told them to bring him all their gold, jewelry 
and ornaments, and when they had brought them he made a golden calf, which was 
a copy of one of the chief idols of Egypt. 

When the golden calf was finished Aaron showed it to the Israelites, and they said, 
"These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt." And 
they made a great feast in honor of the golden calf, and sang and danced and offered 
sacrifices to it. 

Now while this wild and noisy feast was going on, Moses came down from the 
mount. In his hand he held two flat stone slabs, or, as the Bible calls them, tables of 
stone, on which God had written the ten commandments. With Moses came his young 
attendant or minister Joshua, who had been waiting for him near the mount, and when 




60 THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 

they came near to the camp Joshua heard the people shouting, and he said, " There is a 
noise of war in the camp." But Moses said, "It is not the voice of them that shout for 
mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome; but the noise of 
them that sing do I hear." 

Soon they came near enough to see what it was; and when Moses saw it his horror 




and wrath were very great. He dashed down the tables of stone that were in his hands 
and broke them, and then he rushed upon the people, and seized "the calf and threw it 
into the fire, and then he ground it to powder and strewed it on the water and made the 
children of Israel drink of it. And Moses cried, "Who is on the Lord's side? Let 
him come unto me !" And the sons of Levi gathered around him, and they went 
through the camp and killed a great many of the men who had worshipped the idol. 

Then Moses went and prayed most earnestly to God to forgive this great sin of the 
children of Israel. And the Lord forgave them, and he called Moses up into the 
mountain again, and gave him two new tables of stone, with the commandments 
engraved upon them, and when Moses came down from the mountain carrying the 



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61 



% ' -^ 



tables of stone his face shone so, from 
having been with God, that the people 
could not look on his face. 

While Moses was on the mount, 
God had told him how he wanted to be 
worshipped by the Israelites. They 
were to make a tabernacle for his wor- 
ship as we make churches now. The 
tabernacle was to be a large tent, made 
of boards of a precious kind of wood, 
overlaid with gold, and joined together 
by bars of wood overlaid with gold, run 
through silver sockets. Over this were 
to be hung heavily embroidered cur- 
tains of blue and purple, and an outer 
covering of expensive skins, probably 
sealskins, dyed a rich deep scarlet. Be- 
sides the outer curtains of the taberna- 
cle there was to be a most beautiful 
inner curtain to divide the tabernacle 
into two parts. The larger part was to 
be called the Holy Place, and the 
smaller the Holy of Holies, and into that 
place no one was ever to go except once a year, when the high-priest was to lift the 
curtain and go behind it carrying the blood of a goat, which he was to offer for the sins 
of the people. It was not expected that the people would go into the tabernacle at all, 
for the worship of God, as we go into our churches. The tabernacle was far too small 
for that. There was to be a great court all around the tabernacle, and in that the 
people were to assemble to offer their sacri- 
fices and to worship God. The court was 
to be enclosed by tall brass pillars and cur- 
tains of fine linen, and the curtain at the 
entrance, or gate of the court, was to be 
beautifully embroidered in blue and crim- 
son. But the curtains of the tabernacle were 
to be lifted when the priests went in to 
offer incense so that the people could see 
and could join in prayer as the smoke of 
the incense ascended to God, for the rising 
smoke of incense was meant for a type or 
image of prayer, going up from the heart 
to God. 





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Aaron was to be high-priest, and his four sons were to 
be priests, and God had given command that very rich gar- 
ments were to be made for them. 

Then there was to be made a box of wood overlaid both 
within and without with gold, and with a heavy border or 
"crown" of gold around it, and the cover of pure gold. 
This box was called the Ark of the Covenant, and the cover 
was called the Mercy-Seat, and on the Mercy-Seat were to 
be two cherubim of solid gold 
with broad wings to reach from 
one side of the Holy of Holies 
to the other. In the ark the 
tables of stone were to be put. 
The people were also to make a tall golden candlestick 
with seven branches, to give light in the Holy Place, 
and a golden altar, to burn incense on, and a great brazen 
altar to stand in the court of the tabernacle, to burn 
sacrifice upon, and a large brazen laver, or tank, to hold 
water for washings and many other things. The people were full of zeal when they 
heard what God wanted them to do, and they set to work with a will. Just a year 
from the time that they left Egypt all the things which God had commanded them 
to make were finished. 

On the first day of the first month of, the new year, God bade Moses set up the 
tabernacle. And Moses did so: he set up the gold-covered boards and fastened them 
together with the gold-covered bars, and threw the rich curtains over them, and he 
brought the ark of the covenant to its place in the Holy of Holies, and hung up the 
beautifully embroidered vail before it; and he put the table and the golden candlestick 
and the golden altar in the Holy Place and lighted the lamp of the candlestick, and 

burned sweet incense ou the altar. Then 
he set up the pillars and the hangings of the 
court, and put the great brazen altar for the 
burnt-offermgs and the brazen laver in their 
places; and he brought Aaron and his sons 
and consecrated them and put their beautiful 
garments upon them. 

Then all the people came and brought 
offerings, and the tabernacle was consecrated 
to God with great ceremonies. And a cloud 
came down and the glory of the Lord filled 
the tabernacle, to show that God accepted 
this place as his place of worship, and that 
his presence was with the children of Israel. 






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63 



Lrvitigus. 

God told Moses what feasts and fasts and special services he wanted the Israelites to 
observe, and Moses told the people. There were to be three great feasts every year — ■ 
the feast of the Passover, in memory of the 
day when the Lord brought them up out 
of Bgypt; the feast of Pentecost, or of the 
First-fruits, when the first-fruits of every- 
thing were to be offered to the Lord; and 
the feast of Ingatherings, or of Tabernacles, 
when the work of harvest was over. This 
was the most joyful feast of all. And there 
was to be one solemn fast every year, 
called the great Day of Atonement, when 
the high-priest went into the Holy of 
Holies, bearing the blood of a goat, to 
make atonement for the sins of the people. 
This sacrifice was a type of Christ, the 
Son of God, who would one day die for 
the sins of the world. 




NUMBRRS. 

When the children of Israel had finished the tabernacle, and had heard all the laws 
of God, they went on their travels again, and before long they came to the border of the 

Promised Land. Then Moses 
chose twelve men, one from 
each tribe, and sent them to 
spy out the laud. They went 
through the whole country, 
from the south to the north, 
and when they came back they 
reported that the land was a 
goodly land, flowing with milk 
and honey. But though the 
land was so pleasant, it was 
full of strong- walled cities, 
and there were giants there, 
so big and strong that the 
spies said they felt themselves to be like grasshoppers in their sight. Thus said ten 
of the spies; and although the other two, Joshua, whom we have heard of before as the 




6 4 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



attendant of Moses, and Caleb, tried to cheer up the people, saying that God would 
help them, the people would not believe Caleb and Joshua: they wept and mourned, 
and said they wished they had died in the land of Egypt. God was displeased with 
their want of faith; he told Moses to tell them to go back and wander in the wilder- 
ness until all the grown people had died. Only Caleb and Joshua, he said, should live 
to enter Canaan, for they had spoken the thing that was right. 

So they went back, and for thirty-eight years more they wandered up and down, 
led by the pillar of cloud and of fire, and fed with manna from heaven. When the 
pillar stopped they stopped, whether for one day or for many weeks or years, and when 
it went on they followed it. 

At last they came to a place where there was no water, and again the people 




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65 




murmured, as they had so often done before. Then the Lord told Moses and Aaron to 
gather all the people together before a great rock and speak to the rock, and the water 
would gush forth. 

So Moses and Aaron gathered all the people together, before the rock, and they 
said, "Hear now, ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock?" And Moses 
struck the rock twice with his rod, and the water poured out — enough for all that great 
multitude, and for their cattle too. 

But God was not pleased with Moses and Aaron: for they had spoken as if it was 
by their own power that they were to make the rock flow with water, and Moses had 
struck the rock when God told him to speak to it. It was far worse for men who knew 
God so well, to sin, than for others, and so God told them that they should not live to 
lead the people into the Promised Land. And so, not long after, Aaron's time came 
to die, and God bade him go up into a certain mountain, with his eldest son Eleazar, 
and Moses. And when they were on the mountain, Moses took the high-priest's robes 
9 



66 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



off from Aaron and put them on Eleazar, and Aaron died there, and Eleazar became 
high-priest. 

Again the people began to murmur. They said they were tired of the manna that 
God gave them, and they wished they were back in Egypt. God was displeased with 
this, and he sent fiery serpents, that bit the people, and many of them died. 

Then they came to Moses and said they had sinned, and begged him to pray God 
to take the serpents away. Moses prayed for the people, and God told him to make a 
serpent of brass, just like the serpents which had bitten the people, and put it on a pole, 
and that whoever looked at it should live. And Moses did so, and whenever any one 
who had been bitten looked at the brazen serpent he became well again. 

After years of wandering the Israelites came to the inhabited country near the river 
Jordan, and the kings of those countries came out against them with armies. But God 
helped the Israelites, and they conquered these enemies. 

When they came to the country of Moab, the Moabites were afraid, and Balak, 
their king, sent for a famous false prophet, named Balaam, to curse the children of 
Israel. God told Balaam not to go; but Balak promised to do such great things for 
him, that he saddled his ass, and went. 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR V. 67 

While he was on the way an angel came and stood in the road. Balaam did not 
see the angel, but the ass saw him and turned aside out of the way twice, although 
Balaam beat her to make her go. Then the angel went and stood in a narrow part of 
the road where the ass could not turn aside, and the ass fell down on her knees, and 
Balaam beat her again. 

Then the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she spoke, and asked Balaam 
why he beat her. Balaam answered, because she had mocked him three times in 
turning out of the way. But the ass asked him if she had not always served him 
well, and if it was likely that she was doing this only to mock him. When she had said 
this Balaam's eyes were opened and he saw the angel; and the angel told him that 
the Lord was displeased with him for going when he had forbidden it, and that if 
the ass had not turned aside those three times he would have slain Balaam. Then 
Balaam said that he would go back again; but the angel told him to go on, and be 
careful to speak only what God told him. 

So Balaam came to Balak, and Balak took him to a high place where he could 
see the Israelites, and built seven altars and offered sacrifices on them, and bade Balak 
curse the Israelites; but Balaam only blessed them, for he dared not disobey God. 

Balak was much displeased at this, and he took Balaam to another place, and 
then to a third, but in every place Balaam blessed the Israelites instead of cursing them. 
When Balak saw that Balaam would not do as he wished him to, he said that he had 
intended to promote him to great honor, but that he would not do it, since Balaam 
would not curse the Israelites. So Balaam went back to his own home, but although 
he had not dared to disobey God by cursing his chosen people, he did not obey him 
from the heart; and not long afterwards, when there was war between Israel and the 
Midianites, Balaam joined the Midianites and was killed fighting against the people 
of Israel. 

In the course of their wanderings God had led them to the country east of the river 
Jordan, called the land of Gilead and Bashan, which was a land of fertile fields and 
broad meadows watered by running streams. The kings of that country had come 
out against Israel and had fought against them, but God had been with Israel and they 
had conquered, so that all this beautiful country had become theirs. Then the heads 
of the tribes of Reuben and Gad and Manasseh came and asked Moses if they might 
not have this country for theirs. They had much cattle, they said, and this was just 
the place for them. 

At first Moses was not pleased with this plan, because he thought it was not fair 
for the men of these tribes to sit down at ease in the lands of Gilead and Bashan, while 
the others had to cross the river and fight for the land of Canaan. But the men of these 
tribes said that they did not wish to do so. They would only build cities for their 
wives and children and pens for their cattle, and then all the armed men would cross 
over Jordan into Canaan, when God bade them do so, and would fight with their 
brethren of the other tribes until they had subdued all their enemies. When Moses 
heard this he was satisfied and he bade them do as they wished to do. 



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Drutrronomy. 

It was now forty years since the children of Israel had come up out of Egypt, and 
the time had come for Moses to die. So he gathered all the people together, and 
repeated all the laws that God had given them. And then he called Joshua, and 




blessed him, and bade him be strong and of good courage, and lead the people of Israel 
into the Promised Land. Then Moses set forth alone on his last journey. He was 
one hundred and twenty years old, but God had preserved his strength. And so he 
climbed the steep hill of Pisgah, leaning on his staff, his heart lifted up in prayer to 
God. From the top of the mount he looked over the whole land of Palestine, and 
saw that goodly land, into which he had so longed to enter. 

And then he laid him down to die. How he died, no one knows; but the Lord 
buried him, and Moses went into the presence of his God. 



7° 



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Joshua. 



When the children of Israel saw that Moses did not come back, and knew that he 
was indeed dead, they mourned for him for thirty days. But it was time for them to be 
going into the Promised Land, and so the word of the Lord came to Joshua, saying, 
"As I was with Moses so will I be with thee," and bidding him be strong and of good 
courage, and lead the children of Israel into Canaan. 

Then Joshua called two men whom he knew to be brave and wise, and bade them 
go over Jordan and view the land. They went over, and came to the city of Jericho, 
and went into the house of a woman called Rahab to spend the night. 

Soon the king of Jericho heard of their coming, and he sent to Rahab, telling her 
to give up the men, for he was sure that they had come to spy out the land. But 
Rahab took the two men up to the flat roof of her house, and hid them under some flax 

which she had put up there to 
'T^v. dry. And then she said to the 

king's messengers, that there 
had indeed come some men, 
but she did not know where 
they came from, and that they 
had gone away, she did not 
know where, and she advised 
the messengers to hasten after 
them. So the messengers went 
out of the city, and pursued after 
the two men, as they thought, 
as far as the river Jordan. 
As soon as it was dark, Rahab came up to the roof and told the men that all the 
people of Jericho had heard how the Israelites had conquered the people on the other 
side of Jordan, and they were dreadfully afraid. And she said that she knew that the 
Israelites' God must be the true God, and that he would help them to conquer Jericho: 
and she begged them, when that time came, to remember her, and to save her and her 
father and mother and brothers and sisters, and their families. And the men promised 
to save them all, if she would not say a word about the matter to any one. 

Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built on 
the city wall. And she advised the men to hide in the mountains for three days until 
the pursuers were come back, and then to return to their camp. 

When the men found themselves standing safely on the ground outside of the city 
wall, they told Rahab to bind the scarlet rope by which she had let them down fast to 
her window. And they told her that when the Israelites came into the country, she 
must gather all her friends into her house, and nothing should happen to them. Only 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



7i 




her friends must be careful to stay in the house, for they could not answer for anybody 
who was outside of that house. 

The woman promised, and the men did as she had advised. The pursuers, after 
looking for them everywhere and not finding them, went back to the city; and then 
the two men returned to Joshua, and told him all that they had heard. 

Joshua got up early the next morning, and he bade the people go down to the 
banks of the Jordan and pitch their tents there. And after three days he bade the 
people to sanctify themselves, for the Lord was going to do such a wonderful thing for 
them they could no longer doubt that he was among them, and was going to drive 
away all their enemies and give the land of Canaan to them, as he had promised to 
their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 



72 



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Early the next morning Joshua told the priests whose duty it was to carry the Ark 
of the Covenant to take up the ark and go down into the river Jordan. And they did 
so; and as soon as their feet touched the water of the river, God caused the water to stop 
flowing down from above, so that there was dry land all the way across the river, and 
the people walked across on dry land, the priests standing in the middle of the river till 




all the people had passed over. Joshua had bidden twelve men, one from each tribe, 
to take each a stone from the bed of the river and carry it over to the farther shore, 
and Joshua set up twelve stones in the bed of the river in the place where the priests' 
feet had rested. When all the people were passed over, the priests bearing the ark 
passed over, and as soon as they stepped up on the dry land the waters of the river 
came down and flowed along just as they had always done. 

Then the twelve men piled up the stones which they had brought out of the river- 



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73 



bed in a place called Gilgal, so that in days to come, when children saw them they 
would ask their fathers, "What mean these stones?" and their fathers could tell them 
how the children of Israel came over Jordan on dry land; that the meaning of that 
great event should never be lost. 

Now when the people of Jericho saw the people crossing the river they were afraid, 
and they shut up all the gates of their city. But after a few days Joshua bade four of 
the priests take up the ark of the covenant and carry it, and he told seven other priests 
to take trumpets of rams' horns and go before it. So the whole army of the children 
of Israel marched around the city of Jericho, the priests blowing the trumpets, the 
armed men walking before the ark, and all the rest of the people following after, but 
no one speaking a word, for Joshua had said, " Ye shall not shout nor make any noise 
with your voice until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout." 

When they had inarched around the city once they went back to their tents. 




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The next morning they all rose early, and the priests took up the ark again, and 
they all went around the city again in perfect silence, only that the seven priests blew 
the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark; and thus they did for six days. 

On the seventh day they rose as soon as the morning began to dawn, and they 
marched about the city seven times. And at the seventh time, when the priests blew 
their trumpets, Joshua said, " Shout! for the L,ord hath given you the city !" 

Oh, what a shout went up from the throats of those hundreds of thousands of men ! 
And the walls of Jericho fell flat, and every man turned and went up straight before 
him into the city. And they killed all the people and burned the city with fire. But 
the two men who had been spies ran to Rahab's house and brought her out, and her 
father and mother and all her friends, and took them to a safe place. 

After that the Israelites went on conquering through the land until they came to 
the plain of Shechem, where Jacob had lived. Here they buried Joseph, for he had 
asked that his body might be carried back to Canaan and buried, whenever the children 
of Israel went back there; and all through their forty years of wandering they had 
carried with them the coffin containing Joseph's bones. 

On both sides of the plain of Shechem are hills. The name of one is Mount Ebal, 

and the name of 
the other is Mount 
Gerizim. So now 
Joshua built an al- 
tar on Mount Ebal 
and offered a sacri- 
fice, and then half 
the people gathered 
together ort one 
mountain and half 
on the other, and 
Joshua read all the 
words of the law 
and the blessings, 
for obedience and 
the woes for diso- 
bedience, and all 
the people said, 
"Amen." 

Now the people of a city called Gibeon wanted to make peace with the Israelites. 
They knew that God had told the Israelites to kill all the inhabitants of Canaan because 
of their great wickedness, and so they resolved to deceive the Israelites. They dressed 
themselves in old and ragged clothes, and put old, patched sandals on their feet, and 
took dry and mouldy bread in their wallets, and came to Joshua and said that they, had 
come from a very far country, because they had heard of Israel's God and wanted to 




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75 




serve him. And they said that when they left home their clothes were new and their 
bread fresh out of the oven, but they had been so long on the way that their clothes 
were worn out, and their bread dry and mouldy. And Joshua believed what they said, 
aud he forgot to ask of God, and he gave them a solemn promise that they should live.' 



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But very soon he found out how he had been tricked; for the Gibeonites lived close 
by, in the very heart of the country. However, as he had promised, Joshua did not 
kill them, but he made them and their children to be servants to the Israelites as long 
as they should live. 

The other Canaanites heard of the league that the people of Gibeou had made with 
Israel, and the kings of five cities went up to fight against Gibeon. The Gibeonites 




sent to Joshua for help, and Joshua called together his army, and they marched all 
night and reached Gibeon in the morning. Then came one of the fiercest battles 
that was ever fought. The Lord fought for Joshua, and sent a fearful hailstorm, so 
that more Canaanites were killed with hailstones than were slain with the sword. 
And as they were in the heat of battle Joshua said, "Sun, stand thou still upon 



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77 



Gibeon, and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon," for he did not want night to come 
until the battle was over. And it did not, for before the day was done Joshua had 
beaten the Canaanites, and chased them a long way, and killed very many of them, 
and had taken the five kings and put them to death. 

After this there was another battle up in the northern part of Palestine, where 
Joshua conquered another league of kings. And after that, although there were still 
many small towns yet to be conquered, yet the land was quiet enough, and the Israelites 
were strong enough to divide up the country among the tribes. So Joshua called all the 
heads or princes of the twelve tribes together and divided the land between them by lot. 
And afterwards they went to a place called Shiloh and set up the tabernacle, and for 
many years the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant and the sacrifices were at Shiloh. 

By this time Joshua was very old, and he gathered all the Israelites together at 
Shechem, and told them all the story of what God had done for them, and asked them 
to choose that day whom they would serve — whether the Lord God or the gods of the 
Canaanites. And all the people said, "The Lord our God will we serve and his voice 
will we obey." So Joshua died, being a hundred and ten years old. 




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Judges, 

After the death of Joshua the Israelites went on settling themselves in their new 
home. There was no great prophet to speak to them in the name of God as Moses had 
done, and they often forgot God and sinned against him. When thev did so God 
punished them by letting the Canaanites get the better of them; but when' they repented 

of their sins and cried unto the 
Lord, he always raised up a 
deliverer for them. These de- 
liverers were called Judges, and 
in the course of three hundred 
years after Joshua died there 
were a great many judges. 

At one time, when the 
Israelites had sinned, the Ca- 
naanites got so much power 
over them that they .lived in 
constant terror. They dared 
not even walk in the hio-h- 
ways, but crept about in hid- 
den paths, for the Canaanites 
had taken away all their wea- 
pons, and there was not a spear 
or a shield among the Israelites. 
:e arose a famous prophetess named 
was pitched under a palm-tree near 
had long ago seen the ladder reach- 
ing up to heaven. Deborah was, a wonderful woman, very 
brave and wise, and the Spirit of God was upon her. And 
when the oppression of the Canaanites became so great Deborah re- 
solved to free her people. There was a very brave warrior named 
Barak living away off among the hills, and Deborah sent for him to 
j|| come to her; and when he came in all his armor and bowed down before 
her, she told him that he must raise an army, and that she would go with 
him, and they must fight the Canaanites and free themselves. So Barak raised 
an army of ten thousand footmen, for the Israelites had no horses in those days; 
and the Canaanites came against them, a great host, with horsemen and char- 
iots, led by a famous general named Sisera. And there was a great battle 
at Megiddo. God fought for the Israelites, as he had often done before, and 
sent a fearful storm, that swelled the streams and turned the ground into a bog, and the 
horsemen and chariots sank in the mire. But the mire did not trouble the Israelitish 




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79 




foot soldiers, and they overcame the Canaanites and chased them a long way. Sisera, 
their captain, leaped from his chariot and fled away on foot, and at last he took refuge 
in a tent far up in the hills. Here lived a man named Heber, a Kenite. When 
Sisera drew near, Jael, the wife of Heber, came out to meet him, and invited him to 
come in and rest; and while he was asleep Jael took a pin of the tent and a hammer, 
and drove the tent-pin through his temples and killed him. And Sisera's mother, who 
was watching from the lattice of her 
window for her son to come back in 
triumph loaded with rich spoil, looked 
long in vain, for her son lay dead in 
that far-off tent among the hills. 

Then Deborah sang a song of 
triumph, as Miriam had done at the 
Red Sea. And well she might, for 
the Lord had greatly helped his peo- 
ple on that day. The power of the 
Canaanites was broken by this battle, 
and they never troubled Israel any 
more. 

But even this great deliverance 
was not enough to make the Israel- 
ites true to their God. They forgot him again, and then God sent against them the 
Midianites, who were a very rich and strong people, living near the Arabian Gulf. 
They oppressed the Israelites in every possible way. They would come at harvest 
time, just when the Israelites were about to gather in the fruits of their labor, and 
would carry away all the corn and other food, and would drive away their cattle. It 
was of little use to till the ground for their enemies to reap, and so the fields were left 
to lie waste and the people suffered from hunger. And because of other cruelties of 
the Midianites many of the people left their homes and lived in dens and caves of 
the earth. But when they cried to the Lord he sent a prophet to remind them of 
the great things that he had done for Israel in delivering them from their enemies, 
and to tell them that they should have deliverance from these enemies also. 

There was a good man named Gideon, living about fifteen miles north of Jerusalem 
at this time; and one day as he was threshing corn in a secret place for fear of the 
Midianites, an angel came to him saying, "The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man 
of valor," and told him that he was to deliver Israel from the Midianites. This 
seemed impossible to Gideon, for he was a poor man and unknown in Israel, and 
he did not see how he was going to deliver his countrymen from such powerful 
oppressors. Gideon did not know that it was an angel, for it looked like a man, and 
he answered, "Oh, my lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen 
us?" But he asked the angel to stop until he brought him some food, and when 
he had laid the food before him on a rock, the angel touched it with his staff 



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and flames burst out and consumed it, and the angel vanished out of his sight. Then 
Gideon knew that God had truly sent word to him to deliver Israel. 

So he raised a great army and pitched his camp opposite the host of Midian. But 
the Lord told Gideon that he had too large an army, for it was not best that Israel 
should have any reason for thinking that their own strength had saved them. So 
Gideon permitted all who were afraid to go back to their homes. 

Still there were too many, and God chose three hundred men and told Gideon 
that all the others might go home. 

When night came Gideon divided his three hundred men into three companies, 
and he gave to each man a trumpet and an empty pitcher, and told them to light their 
lamps and put them inside of the pitchers and to look at him and do as he did. So 
the three companies crept softly up on different sides of the host of Midian. The 
Midianites were sleeping quietly, with only the watchmen keeping guard, when at 
midnight they heard a fearful noise. For all Gideon's men blew their trumpets, and 
broke their pitchers with a loud crash, and cried "The sword of the Lord and of 
Gideon !" And their lamps flashed out in the darkness, and the Midianites were so 
terrified, that they all began to cut down their fellow-soldiers, not knowing what 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 81 

they were doing. Then the whole army ran away, and Gideon's men after them, and 
the other Israelites gathered together at the fords of the river Jordan, and when the 
Midianites came there, to cross over and get away to their own country, they were all 
cut to pieces. 

Again the children of Israel sinned, and served the gods of the heathen. Then 




the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines, who were a strong people 
living on the sea-shore, and into the hands of the Ammonites, a wild tribe on the 
eastern border. 

Then Israel cried unto the Lord and confessed their sins, and they put away their 
idols, and worshipped God. But a great army of Ammonites came up against them. 

There was at this time a man named Jephthah living among the mountains of 
Gilead. He was a bold and strong man, wild and fierce, but full of xeal, and a mighty 
ii 



82 THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 

warrior. So the people of Israel sent up into the mountains for Jephthah to come 
and be their captain. Brave as Jephthah was, he did not very well understand the 
God whom he served; and so he vowed that if God would give him the victory over 
Ammon, he would offer as a sacrifice whatever first came out of his door to welcome 
him home. Then he went into battle, and the Ammonites were subdued. 

And when Jephthah went home in triumph the first thing he saw was his only 
daughter, coming out of his house to meet him with timbrels and dances, rejoicing 
in her dear father's triumph. But Jephthah rent his clothes and said, "Alas, my 




daughter, thou hast brought me very low; for I have opened my mouth to the Lord, 
and I cannot go back." 

When the young girl heard this, she made a noble and beautiful answer. 

" My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to 
that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken 
vengeance for thee of thine enemies." She thought, as her father did, that God would 
be pleased to have her slain, and she was willing to offer up her life that her 
father might keep his word, and as a thank-offering for the salvation of her country. 



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83 



Yet again the children of Israel sinned against God, and he delivered them into the 
hands of the Philistines, and they served them for forty years. But an angel had come 
to a man named Manoah and his wife, and had told them that they should have a child 
who would begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. Shortly after they had a son 
whom they named Samson, which means the Sunny, and indeed he was always a 
sunny-hearted man, fond of a joke, although his life was full of storms and troubles. 

While he was very young the Spirit of the Lord began to move in him, and he 
soon showed a wonderful strength. For one day a young lion rushed roaring upon 




him: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he caught the lion and tore him 
in pieces, although he had no weapon in his hand. 

One time he went and caught three hundred foxes, and tied firebrands to their 
tails, and let them loose in the cornfields of the Philistines, and burned up all the 
Philistines' corn. Then the Philistines chased after Samson with a great army; and 
the men of Judah were afraid, and they delivered Samson up to the Philistines. 

The Philistines shouted for joy when they saw Samson, but their joy was short, 



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for he picked up the jawbone of an ass that lay there, and rushed upon the Philistines, 
all unarmed as he was, except with the jawbone of an ass, and killed a thousand men. 

After that, one day Samson went to one of the chief cities of the Philistines, called 
Gaza, for he was not in the least afraid of the Philistines. And when it was known 



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85 




that Samson was in the city, the Philistines laid wait at the gate of the city, saying, 
" In the morning, when it is day, we will kill him." 

But in the middle of the night Samson got up and went out to the city gate. It 
was fast shut, and the men who were lying in wait for him were sound asleep. Then 

Samson lifted the doors of the eate off 
their hinges, and carried them away off 
to the top of a hill. How surprised the 
Philistines were when they awoke ! And 
Samson was probably much amused at 
having outwitted them. 

After that Samson loved a woman 
named Delilah, and the lords of the Phil- 
istines came to her and promised to give 
her a great sum of money if she would 
entice Samson to tell her the secret of his 
great strength. And Delilah begged Sam- 
son to tell her wherein his strength lav. 
Samson was amused at this, and thought 
it would be a good opportunity to play a 
trick on the Philistines. So he told her 
that if any one should bind him with 
seven green withs that had never been dried, he would be weak, like any other man. 
Now Delilah had hidden some of the Philistines in her room. So she bound Samson 
with seven green withs, and then she said, "The Philistines be upon thee, Samson!" 
And he broke the withs like tow; and the Philistines dared not touch him, nor did they 
find out where his strength came from. 

But Delilah begged Samson not to mock her that way, but to tell her truly what 
there was that would be strong enough to bind him. So he said, " If they bind me fast 
with new ropes, then I shall be weak, like another man." And Delilah had him bound 
with new ropes, and she said, "The Philistines be upon thee, Samson." And he broke 
the ropes as if they had been a thread. 

Then Delilah said, "You are mocking me: do tell me truly how you might be 
bound." So he said, " If you weave the seven locks of my hair into the web of cloth 
that is in the loom." Samson's hair was very long and thick, for it had never been cut 
since he was born. His parents had dedicated him to God as a Nazarite, and the 
Nazarites never drank wine or strong drink, and never had their hair cut. So Delilah 
wove Samson's hair into the web which was on her loom, and she said, "The Philis- 
tines be upon thee, Samson !" Then he got up and walked away carrying the web and 
the bar of the loom, hanging to his hair. 

Then Delilah seemed very unhappy because Samson would not tell her the truth. 
Samson loved Delilah very much, and he could not bear to see her unhappy, and so 
at last he told her that if his hair should be shaved off he would lose his strength. And 



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she saw that he was telling the truth, and she sent for the lords of the Philistines to 
come hack, and when he was asleep she had his hair shaved off: and then she said, 
"The Philistines be upon thee, Samson!" So he awoke, but he did not at first 
know that his strength was gone. Then the Philistines rushed upon him, and put 
out his eyes, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Gaza, and made 
him grind in the prison house. 

However, his hair began to grow again. Then one day the Philistines were 
gathered together in the temple of their god, Dagon, and were praising their god; and 
they sent for Samson to come and make sport for them. When he was led in they 
placed him between two of the pillars of the temple. Now the temple was full of 
the lords and ladies of the Philistines; and Samson prayed to God to strengthen him 
again only that once, and God heard him and gave him back his strength. Then 
Samson put his arms around the two pillars of the temple, and bowed himself with 
all his might; and the pillars broke, and the house fell and crushed all the people. So 
the dead which Samson slew at his death were more than those whom he slew in his life. 



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87 




Ruth. 

Now in those days there was a 
famine in the land. And a man 
named Elimelech went over the Jor- 
dan to Moab to find food. He took 
with him his wife Naomi, and his 
two little sons. They liked the coun- 
try of Moab, and so they remained 
there after the famine was over. 

Before long Elimelech died, and 
Naomi's two sons grew up and took 
wives from among the Moabitish wo- 
men. The name of one of the wives 
was Orpah, which means "a fawn," 
and the name of the other was Ruth, 
or "the rose." But by and by both 
the sons died, and poor Naomi was 
left without husband or son. Then she felt that she must go back to Bethlehem 
in the land of Judah, her old home, for her heart yearned after her own people. So 
she set out to go to Bethlehem, and her two young daughters-in-law started with her. 

But when they had gone a part of 
the way, Naomi bade her daughters-in- 
law good-by, and told them to go back 
to their fathers' houses: and she blessed 
them, for they had been good wives to 
her sons, and kind daughters to her. 

Then Orpah kissed her mother-in- 
law and turned back : but Ruth would 
not go, for she said that her mother-in- 
law's home and her God, should be hers. 
So they went on until they came to 
Bethlehem. The people came out to 
meet them, much surprised and pleased 
to see Naomi at home. But when they 
called her by name, Naomi s?id, "Call 
me not Naomi," which means J>/easaut, 
"call me Mara," which means bitter; 
' ' for the Almighty hath dealt very bit- 
terly with me." 

It was the beginning of the barley- 
harvest when Naomi and Ruth reached 




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^'■K 






Bethlehem, and, as they had no money, Ruth went to glean in the fields after the 
reapers, to get food. 

Now Naomi had a kinsman, named Boaz, and he was a very rich man, and an 
elder or prince of the tribe of Judah. And when Ruth went out to glean it was to 

the fields of Boaz that she 
went, not knowing that he 
was a kinsman. 

After a time Boaz came 
out and saluted his reap- 
ers, and asked who the 
young woman was who 
was gleaning. They told 
him, and Boaz spoke kind- 
ly to Ruth and told her 
not to go anywhere else to 
glean, but to keep with 
his maidens, and at noon 
to come and eat with them. 
And he told the reapers to 
let fall some handfuls of 
grain purposely, that she 
might gather them; for he 
had heard of her goodness 
to her mother-in-law. So 
Ruth gleaned in the fields 
of Boaz all through the bar- 
ley-harvest and the wheat-harvest, and brought home what she 
gleaned. 

Now according to the law of Moses, if a man died without 
children, his nearest kinsman ought to marry his wife. So 
Naomi told Ruth that she should go down to the threshing- 
floor of Boaz, and speak to him when he was alone, and remind 
him that he was a near kinsman. 
Ruth did as her mother-in-law bade, and she behaved so "modestly and sweetly 
that the heart of Boaz was touched. And the next day Boaz went to the gate of the 
city and said to the elders and to all the people, that he would take Ruth the 
Moabitess for his wife. And the people said, "We are witnesses," and asked God to 
bless Boaz and his house. 

Then Boaz took Ruth for his wife, and after a while she had a little sou, called 
Obed. This babe grew up and became the father of Jesse, who was the father of 
David, the king, and the ancestor of our Lord Jesus Christ. 




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89 



I. Samuel. 

In the days of the later 
judges there was a man named 
Elkanah who had two wives, 
named Peninnah and Hannah; 
and Peninnah had children, 
but Hannah had no children. 
And Peninnah used to taunt 
Hannah and jeer at her because 
she had no children, for chil- 
dren were considered a great 
honor, and a reward from God. 
Now they used to go up 
every year to Shiloh, to the 
yearly sacrifice, and after the 
sacrifice had been offered, to 
make a great feast. 

One day, when they were 
feasting thus in Shiloh, Han- 
nah was made so unhappy by 
Peninnah' s words that she 
could not eat. Her husband, who loved her tenderly, tried to com- 
fort her and said, "Am not I better to thee than ten sons?" But 
Hannah could not be comforted. 
When the feast was over she went back to the tabernacle and kneeled 
down and prayed. And she said to God that if he would give her a son she 
would lend him to the Lord as long as he lived. 

The high-priest at that time was named Eli; and he saw Hannah 
moving her lips, but not speaking aloud, and he thought she had been drinking too 
much at the feast. So he spoke harshly to her. But Hannah said, "No, my lord. I 
have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my heart to the Lord." 
Then Eli said, "Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition." 
So Hannah was comforted, and she went home with her husband and his family, 
and God did grant her petition, for he sent her a little son. And Hannah called his 
name Samuel, which means "Asked of God." And she sang a beautiful hymn of 
praise to God, in which there was also a prophecy of the Saviour, Jesus Christ. 

Hannah did not go up to the feast again until Samuel was old enough to go. But 
when Samuel was several years old Hannah took him up to Shiloh, to Eli, the high- 
priest. And Hannah said, " I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying to the 
Lord. For this child I prayed, and the Lord has given me my petition. Therefore as 
long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord." 
12 




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So the little Samuel remained with Eli when his father and mother went back to 
their house. But every year his mother came to see him, and brought him a little coat 
that she had made for him. And God gave her other children; but little Samuel minis- 
tered to the Lord in the tabernacle at Shiloh. 

Now Eli, the high-priest, had two sons, who were priests, and they were very 
wicked men. For though Eli was a good old man and loved God, he did not make his 
sons do right, and they went on from bad to worse. 

But little Samuel was a 
comfort to the old high-priest. 
He waited upon him, and did 
everything that Eli told him to 
do. He slept in a room beside 
the Holy Place, and Samuel 
slept in a little room near Eli's 
room. 

One night while Samuel 
was sleeping in his little bed 
he heard a voice calling, "Sam- 
uel, Samuel !" He thought Eli 
was calling him, and he jumped 
up and ran to Eli's room, say- 
ing, " Here am I, for thou didst 
call me." But Eli said, "I 
called not; lie down a°rain." 
This was done again and a third 
time. It was the Lord who 
was calling Samuel, and at last 
Eli told him that if he heard 

the voice again he must say, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." He did so, and 
God told him that he was going to punish Eli's sons very dreadfully for their sins. 

After that the Lord spoke often to Samuel, and every one knew that Samuel was 
a prophet of the Lord. But the people continued to sin against God, and he let the 
Philistines defeat them in battle. So they resolved to send for the ark of the cove- 
nant to go with them to the battle. This displeased God, and the Philistines got 
the victory, and killed a great many Israelites, and they killed Eli's two sons, Hophni 
and Phinehas, and carried the ark of God away. And when Eli heard that his sons 
were killed and the ark of God taken, he fell backward off his seat and died. 

The ark was with the Philistines seven months, but God sent such plagues upon 
the Philistines that they finally sent it back to Israel. 

Samuel judged Israel until he was an old man, and the Philistines were subdued 
as long as he judged Israel. But when he grew old the people came to him and asked 
him to make them a king, and God told him to do as they asked him. 




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9i 




Now there was a young man of the tribe of Benjamin named Saul. And one day 
he came to Samuel to inquire about his father's asses that had strayed away, Samuel 
told Saul that the asses were found, and he walked along with him a little way on 



92 THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 

the road home. Presently he asked Saul to bid his servant go on before; and then 
he took a horn of oil and anointed Saul, and told him that he should be king of Israel. 
Saul was a fine man, tall and handsome, and very brave: when the people knew that lie 
was to be their king they were pleased. For a time Saul made a good king, but it soon 
became plain that he was not a true servant of God. Samuel mourned over Saul's 
wickedness, but God told him that he had chosen another man to be king in place 



-of Saul, and that he must go to Bethlehem and anoint him. Then Saul went to Bethle- 
hem to the house of Jesse, who was the grandson of Boaz and Ruth. Jesse had a large 
family of sons, and each one was brought to Samuel in turn, but none was the man 
chosen by God. At last there was only one more, and he was but a lad and took care 
of the sheep. Samuel sent for him, and when he came in the Lord said to Samuel, 
"Arise and anoint him, for this is he." And Samuel poured the oil on David's 
head, and anointed him. 



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93 



But David was not to be king at once. For 
the present he was to go back to his sheep. And 
he used to think much of God while he was 
watching his flocks, and he wrote many beautiful 
psalms, and sang them to his harp. 

As for Saul, he became very moody and 
unhappy, and at times he seemed to be almost 
insane. Then his servants thought best to find 
some one who could play well on the harp, that 
when Saul's gloomy fits came upon him, he 
might be soothed by the sweet music. And they 
heard that David could play well on the harp, 
and they sent for him. Then Jesse, David's 
father, loaded an ass with presents for the king, 
and sent them by David to Saul. When Saul 
saw David he loved him, and whenever the evil 
mood came upon Saul David played the harp and the evil spirit passed away. 





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THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



Now the Philistines came up again to battle against Israel, and Saul gathered 
an army and went out to meet the Philistines, and the two armies pitched their camps 
in sight of one another. And there was a great giant in the army of the Philistines, 
named Goliath, of Gath; he was ten feet high, and he wore a full suit of brass armor; 
he had a staff as heavy as a weaver's beam, and a heavy iron spear, and a man 
bearing a shield went before him. 




This giant came out before the army of Israel every day and challenged them to 
send out a man to fight him, saying that if he was defeated all the Philistines would 
serve the Israelites, and if the Israelitish champion was defeated, Israel should serve the 
Philistines. But there was no man in Israel who dared take up the challenge, and this 
went on for forty days, the two armies facing one another without striking a blow. 

Now David had gone back to Bethlehem to his father's sheep, but his three elder 
brothers were with the army, and one day his father told him to go and bring word 
how his brothers were getting on. And David went, and while he was talking with 
his brothers the giant came out and made his usual challenge, and David heard him. 

Then David asked, " What shall be done to the man who kills this Philistine?" 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



95 




They told David that the man who should kill Goliath would be made rich, and 
would have the king's daughter for his wife. 

Then David went down to the brook and chose some smooth stones, and put them 
in his wallet, and took his staff and the sling he used for throwing stones, and went 
out against the Philistine. 

When Goliath saw this young, unarmed man he sneered at him; but David said, 
" I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, 
whom thou hast defied.'" Then the Philistine came towards David, and David put 
one of his stones in his sling, and ran and slung it, and the stone struck Goliath on 
the forehead, and he fell to the earth. Then David ran and stood upon him, and 
pulled out his sword and cut off his head. And when the Philistines saw that their 
champion was dead they ran away, and the Israelites ran after them and killed a great 
many of them. After that Saul would not let David go home any more, but kept him 
with him, and when Jonathan Saul's son saw David he loved him as his own soul, 
and David loved Jonathan, and they became dear friends. Jonathan gave David his 
robe and his sword and his bow and his girdle, as token of his love. And Saul set 
David over the men of war, and David led the soldiers out to fight whenever he 
thought best, for he was a wise captain. 



» 



9 6 



77ZE" BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY, 




But the whole country rang with David's great deed, and one day, when he was 
coming back with his army from some raid on the Philistines, the women went out 
to meet him, and they sang, "Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thou- 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



97 




__) 



killtf Tf^i ^ \ aad hfS l0VC tUrned t0 jeal0US >'' aud he tned to have David 
killed. He dared not do so openly, David was such a favorite with the people but 

Bn^^S!^ '*" "^ ^ that * ™ M * *V 
13 



98 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



Jonathan saw how his father felt towards David, and he talked kindly of him to 
his father, and again and again brought back his father's old love for David : but 
the jealous feeling would always return in a little while. 

One day, when Saul's evil mood was upon him, David took his harp and played 
as he had so often done. Now there was a javelin in Saul's hand, and in a fit of sudden 
hate Saul let fly the javelin towards David. But David moved quickly aside, and 
the javelin stuck in the wall. 

At last David was obliged to go away and hide. And Jonathan came to him 
in the wood where he was hiding and told him that he would try to make his father 
feel kindly again. So they agreed together that Jonathan should give David a sign 
as to how his father felt — a sign that David would understand, but no one else. 

Jonathan talked with his father, but this time he could not arouse his old kind- 
ness towards David. And so the next morning he went out to give David the sign 
he had agreed upon. He took his bow and arrows, as if he were going to practise 
a little, and he took a lad with him to pick up his arrows. He went to the field on 
the edge of the wood where David was hiding, and began to shoot, and the lad ran 
after the arrows. And as he was running Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him, 
and David knew that this was a sign that he was to go further away, for Saul was 
bent on having him killed. 

Then Jonathan sent the lad back to town, and David came 
out of the wood and bowed down before Jonathan, and they kissed 
one another, and wept very much. And they made a vow of 
eternal friendship: and then David went away to hide himself, 
and Jonathan went back to the city. Dearly as he loved his 
friend, and wrong as his father was, he would be a good son to 
him to the end. 

Now David had no weapon with him, and he went to the 

city of Nob, where the tabernacle then was, and he asked Ahim- 

elech the priest to give him a sword. There was no 

sword there except the sword of the giant Goliath, 

whom David had slain, for that had been laid away in 

the tabernacle as a trophy. And David said, "There 

/IHWw' ^ s none like that:_ give it me." So Ahim- 

elech gave it to him, and David went 

away. But it so happened that Saul's 

steward, Doeg, was there and saw Ahim- 

elech give the sword to David; and he 

went and told Saul, and Saul went down 

to Nob, and killed Ahimelech and all the 

other priests there, and their wives and 

their children, and burned the city with 

fire. To such awful sin his jealousy of 





THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



99 



David led this unhappy king. But Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, escaped from Nob, 
and fled to David, and remained with him through all the troubled years that followed, 
and when at last David became king, Abiathar became high-priest. 

This was the beginning of a hard and dangerous life for David, which lasted for 
several years. He was obliged to hide, now here, now there: sometimes in some friendly 
city, but more often in some cave in the hills. But his father and mother and his 
brethren and relatives came to him, and little by little other men came and joined him, 
until he had six hundred men with him. They lived in the mountains, and Saul 
chased after them from place to place; but David and his men learned to know all the 
passes of the mountains, and every den and cave, and Saul never caught them. 

One time when Saul was pursuing after David, he went into a cave for a little rest, 
not knowing that David and his men were in that very cave. And David's men said 
to him, " Now is your time: the L,ord has delivered your enemy into your hand." 




Then David stole gently up to Saul and cut off the skirt of his robe, but he did 
not touch Saul, and Saul woke and went away without knowing that David had been 
so near. Soon after David came out and called after him, saying, "My lord, the 
kine !" And when Saul looked back, David bowed down to the ground. 

And he said, " Why do you believe people who say that I would do you any harm ? 
Behold this very day the L,ord delivered you into my hand, but I did not touch you, 
because you are the Lord's anointed. But see, here is the skirt of your robe that I 
cut off. It is a sign that I do not want to hurt you, for I did nothing to harm you 
when you were in my power." 

When Saul heard him he said, "Is this thy voice, my son David?" And Saul 
wept, and said that David was more righteous than he. And he told David that he 



IOO 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



knew that he would be king after him, and he asked David to be kind to his children 
when he was dead. And David promised. Then Saul went home for a time, but 
David could not trust Saul to be true to him, and he remained in the mountains with 
his friends, waiting until God's time should come to make him kino-. 

Not long after this Sam- 
uel died, and all the people 
mourned for him, and buried 
him in his own city of Ra- 
man. 

Now there was in one 
of the towns near the hills 
where David was hiding a 
man whose name was Nabal. 
He was very rich, and had 
three thousand sheep and a 
thousand goats ; and they 
were scattered about on the 
mountains for pasture. And 
. David and his men protected 
them from thieves and rob- 
bers, for there were very 
many such in those unsettled 
days. When sheep-shearing 
time came, which is always 
a time of merry-making and 
sent some of his young men to 
ask if he would send them some 

But Nabal answered the men roughly, saying that there 
vere many servants who ran away from their masters, and 
le was not going to take the good food he had prepared for 
nis own people and send it to men that he knew nothing about. 
When David heard this he was very angry, and told his men to 
gird on their swords, for he was going to punish Nabal. And all his 
men girded on their swords, except two hundred who were to stay and 
take care of the tents and the women. 
Now one of Nabal's shepherds went to Abigail, Nabal' s wife, and told her the 
whole storv, and that David and his men had been like a wall to them, thev took such 
good care of them. He asked her to do something about it, for their master was so 
ill-tempered that they dared not speak to him, and he feared that David would punish 
Nabal. 

Abigail was a very wise young woman. She saw the danger, and while Nabal 




3JPf3 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



101 



was holding a drunken feast she loaded some asses with provisions and sent her servants 
forward with them, and she herself followed. As they were going, they met David 
and his armed men. 

Then Abigail got down from her ass, and bowed down to the ground, and asked 

David to forgive the folly of Na- 
bal, and accept the present which 
she had brought. She told him 
that she had not seen the voung- 
men when they came from David, 
or she would not have allowed such 
a message to be sent to him, for she 
knew that David and his men had 
guarded Nabal's property from 
robbers, and that in all justice 
Nabal owed David far more than 
he asked for. Then Abigail spoke 
of David's troubles with Saul, 
saying that she knew that Saul 
was trying to kill him, but that 
she felt sure that David's soul was 
bound up in the Lord's bundle of 
life. By this she meant that God 
would surely take care of David 
and not let Saul slay him. Abigail had perhaps heard how Samuel had anointed 
David to be king over Israel, and she knew that no man can hinder what God has 
purposed. She said that she knew that David was fighting the Lord's battles, and that 
the Lord would make him prevail in the end. And she reminded him that when that 
time came he would not be sorry that he had not avenged himself on Nabal. 

Then David thanked Abigail for her advice, and for her present, and bade her go 
in peace. 

When Abigail reached home Nabal was feasting royally, and Abigail said nothing 
to him, but the next morning she told him all that had happened; and he was afraid 
and his heart died within him, and about ten days after he died. 

When David heard that Nabal was dead he thanked God again for having kept 
him from avenging himself : and after a time he sent and asked Abigail to come and 
be his wife. So she came with five of her maid-servants, and became David's wife. 

Not long after this Saul went out against David again with three hundred men. 
Now there were with David three brothers, whose mother, Zeruiah, was David's older 
sister. David was very fond of these three young men; they were all brave soldiers, 
and the eldest of them, Joab, afterwards became captain of David's army. 

So when Saul came and pitched his camp on a hill near where David and his men 
were hiding, David and Abishai, one of these brothers, went down by night to spy 




102 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



out how things were in Saul's camp. They found Saul sleeping in the midst of his 
army, and Abner, the captain of his army, sleeping near him, and Saul's spear was 
stuck in the ground beside his bolster. 

Abishai wanted to kill Saul, but David said that he must not because Saul was the 
Lord's anointed, and that God would slay him at the proper time. But he told Abishai 
to take away Saul's spear, and the jug of water that was at his bolster, to let him know 
that they had been there. 




So they took the spear and the jug of water and went softly away, and no one 
waked up. But when David had gone up to the top of a hill that was opposite, he 
cried out with a loud voice to waken Abner; and Abner cried out to know who it was. 
Then David asked him if that was the way he took care of his king, and bade him 
look for the king's spear and jug of water. Then Saul called out, " Is that thy voice, 
my son David?" And David said, " It is my voice, my lord, O king." And he asked 
Saul why he came out against him when he had never done him harm; and Saul said 
that he had been very foolish, and that he would go back home again; and he did so, 
but David and his men remained in the wilderness. 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



l °3 




After a time the Philistines gathered a great army to fight against Israel, and 
when Saul saw how many the Philistines were he was afraid. And he disguised 
himself, and went by night to a woman at Endor, who was a witch, and asked her to 
bring back Samuel from the dead. And presently there was an appearance as of an 
old man, covered with a mantle, such as Samuel used to wear, and Saul knew that 
it was Samuel. And Samuel asked Saul why he had called him, and Saul said, 
because he wanted to know how the battle would go. And Samuel told him that 
God had taken the kingdom from him and had given it to David ; and that the victory 
would be with the Philistines the next day, and that Saul and his sons would be killed. 
When Saul heard this he fell to the ground with fear, but after he had eaten his 
courage revived and he went back to his army. 

The next day the battle was fought, and it went against the Israelites. Jonathan 
and his two brothers were killed, and Saul himself was wounded. Then Saul asked 
his armor-bearer to kill him, for he did not wish to fall into the hands of the Philistines; 
but he would not: so Saul took his sword, and fell upon it, and died. When David 
heard that Saul and his sons were dead, he grieved much, not only for the death of his 



io4 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 




dear friend Jonathan, but also for the death of Saul, whom he had once loved. And 
he sang a beautiful lament over Saul and Jonathan, in which he said nothing of Saul's 
sins, but spoke only of his good qualities. 

After Saul was dead, the men of Judah made David king; but Abner, Saul's 
captain, took Ishbosheth, Saul's only remaining son, and proclaimed him king, and 
a part of the people followed him, and there was war between the two kings. Abner 
was devoted to Saul and to all his house, and it was he rather than Ishbosheth who 
kept up the war. And Abner killed Asahel, the youngest of the three sons of Zeruiah, 
David's sister. Joab and Abishai, the other two brothers, never forgave Abner for 
that deed, and Joab watched his opportunity and killed Abner. 

When David heard of it he mourned for Abner, and told all the people to mourn; 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



105 




for Abner was a great man, though he had been David's enemy. And David followed 
him to the tomb, and sang a lament over him. And not long after Abner was dead 
two men came and killed Ishbosheth as he lay on his bed. 



io6 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 




There were now none of Saul's sons left alive. But Jonathan had a little son, 
named Mephibosheth, who was five years old when word came that Saul and Jonathan 
were killed. And when his nurse heard of it she took him up in her arms and ran 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 107 

away; but as she was running she let him fall, and he became lame. Mephibosheth 
was too young to do anything when his uncle Ishbosheth was dead, and he stayed in 
hiding for many years. But after David was settled in his kingdom, he inquired if 
there were any of Saul's family left to whom he might be kind; and when he heard 
that a son of Jonathan was living, he sent for him and had him live with him until 
Mephibosheth died. 

Now the ark of God had never been in the tabernacle from the time that the 
Philistines had taken it in battle until David became king. At first the Philistines had 
kept it with great delight and triumph; but God sent such plagues upon them that 
they soon became afraid of it, and sent it back into the land of Israel again, and the 
people brought it into the house of a man called Abinadab, and it was kept there for 
about seventy years. But when David had rest from all his enemies, and was fully 
confirmed as king over all Israel, he brought the ark to Jerusalem with great ceremony 
and much rejoicing of all the people. Now David had made friends with Hiram, king 
of Tyre, a city of Phoenicia, a country north of Palestine, and had hired of him car- 
penters and masons to build him a palace, for the Tyrians were very skilful workmen. 
And after his palace was built, David spoke to Nathan the prophet, and said that he 
did not think it was right that the ark of the Lord should be kept in a tabernacle 
while he lived in a comfortable house, and he wanted to build a house for the Lord. 
And Nathan was pleased with this and told David to do all that was in his heart. 

But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, bidding him tell David that 
the Lord did not wish him to build him a house. God said that David had been a 
man of war, and had shed much blood, and it was not fitting that he should build a 
house for the Lord ; but he should have a son who would be king after him, who would 
be a man of peace, and he should build a house for the Lord. And God said that he 
would never take his mercy away from David and his family, as he had taken it from 
Saul and his family, but that David's sons should long reign over his chosen people. 
If they did wrong he would punish them, but he would never forsake them as he had 
forsaken Saul. 

When Nathan told David this he went and prayed to God, giving him thanks 
for all the mercy that he had shown him up to that time, and especially for the glorious 
promises that he had given him by the mouth of Nathan. David was a man of many 
faults, but his love for God was very deep and true, and for that reason the Bible calls 
him the "man after God's own heart;'' for love is of God, and whoever loves most is 
most like God. 

Although David might not build a house for the Lord, from this time on his chief 
delight and pleasure were to make preparation for the house of God, the magnificent 
temple at Jerusalem, which the son who was to be born to him should build. He 
collected gold and silver in great quantities, and sent to his friend Hiram, king 
of Tyre, and arranged for Hiram to send him great quantities of cedar from the 
mountains of Lebanon. The men of Tyre were famous sailors ; they were the first 
to send ships around the Mediterranean Sea, and even beyond through the Straits 



io8 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 




of Gibraltar, into the wide, unknown ocean. So Hiram sent his ships to Joppa, which 
was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem; and he bargained with David for wheat and 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 109 

gave him cedar-trees in exchange; and all through David's life he was laying up 
materials for the temple which was to be built. All the gold and silver and brass that 
he took from conquered nations David laid up for this purpose, and also the gifts that 
were sent him from nations who were afraid of his power or who admired his greatness 
and wanted to be at peace with him. 

Israel had many enemies in the countries which lay to the east and north and 
southeast of Palestine, and all David's life was more or less occupied with war. His 
captain, Joab, was a valiant man, and David himself was a famous warrior, and they 
always conquered their enemies, so that the kingdom of David at last reached far 
beyond the limits of Palestine, and became one of the most mighty kingdoms of that 
time. But brave and lion-hearted as David was, and much as he loved God, he com- 
mitted a sin for which God punished him with many sorrows. 

One day as David was sitting on the roof of his palace, he saw a very beautiful 
woman on the roof of another house, for in that country people spend much of their 
time on the flat roofs of their houses. David had already six wives, but he wanted 
this beautiful woman for his wife, and he sent and called her to come to him. Her 
name was Bathsheba, and David found that she was already married to a man named 
Uriah, and that Uriah was with Joab and the army, fighting against the enemies of the 
king. 

Then David sent word to Joab to put Uriah in the very front of the battle; and 
he did so, and Uriah was killed. Joab sent word to David that Uriah was killed, 
and David sent and took Bathsheba to be his wife. He broke the sixth commandment 
as well as the seventh; and it was a poor excuse for him that the heathen kings around 
him did the same things without scruple. 

But God was much displeased with David for this great sin, and he sent Nathan 
to tell him so. David grieved when he heard that God was angry with him, and 
he prayed earnestly to God for forgiveness. The fifty-first Psalm was written by David 
while he was repenting of this dreadful sin, and it is a Psalm which expresses the 
feelings of every one who is sorry for having sinned against God. God forgave David, 
but he said that he must punish him for his sin; and from that time, though David 
had great prosperity, his life was full of troubles. As his children grew up they gave 
him much sorrow, especially Absalom. 

Of all David's sons he loved Absalom best. And Absalom was a beautiful young 
man, with long, flowing hair, and very winning manners, but he was quick-tempered 
and treacherous. He showed this by his conduct towards his oldest brother, Amnon. 
Amnon had done Absalom a great wrong; but instead of openly showing the displeasure 
which he had a right to feel, he invited him to his house, and there had his servants 
kill him by treachery. Then Absalom was afraid, and ran away and hid, for he 
thought that his father would never forgive him. So he remained away for three 
years, and though his father's heart ached for him, he would not send for him. 

But Joab saw that David longed after Absalom, and he finally persuaded David 
to send for Absalom to come back. Still, though he allowed him to come back 



JIO 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 




to Jerusalem, he would not see him. But after two years Joab persuaded David to 
fonrive Absalom, and so David sent for Absalom and kissed him and forgave him. 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



i ii 



But Absalom did not return his father's love, and he made every effort to steal 
the hearts of the people away from his father. He would go among the people, and 
whenever he found any one who was in trouble, or discontented, he would get him to 

, tell him all his troubles, and then he would say, 

"Oh, if I were only judge in this land, then 

I would see that every one had justice." 

And so he made many people wish that he 

Wfmti were king instead of his father. 

When he thought that the time had come, 
W>- he asked his father to let him go to Hebron to 
pay a vow that he had vowed when he was in dis- 
grace: and his father told him to go. But Absalom 
had sent men secretly all through the country to tell the 
people that when they heard the trumpet blow they were 
= to know that Absalom was king in Hebron, and they 
were to come and join him. And he had laid his plots 

so well, that a great many of the 







people came, and his army grew 
larger and larger. And Ahith- 
ophel, David's counsellor, a very 
| wise man, also went over to Ab- 
salom. 

David heard that Absalom 
had revolted against him and 
that all the people were with 
him, and he resolved to go away 
quietly from Jerusalem, for he did not want to fight against his son, and have innocent 
people suffer. But a great many people went with David, for there were many who 
loved him, and would not go over to Absalom. And they all went up Mt. Olivet, 
barefoot and weeping as they went. Now when David was going away, Zadok the 
high-priest and all the Levites came bringing the ark of God, to go away with him. 
But David told Zadok to carry the ark of God back to its place, for God was able to 
bring him back: but if not, let the Dord do what seemed good unto him. And then 
he told Zadok that he could be of more help to him in the city than if he were with 
him, because he could keep watch of all that went on, and could send word to him by 
his son Ahimaaz, and by Jonathan, the son of Abiathar, the priest, who had been 
with David during all his troubles. And David also sent his friend Hushai the Archite 
back to the city, for Hushai was a wise counsellor, and he thought he might be able 
to defeat the counsel of Ahithophel. And in fact, as we shall soon see, he did so, and 
persuaded Absalom to follow a course which was not nearly as wise as that which 
Ahithophel counseled : and then he sent Jonathan and Ahimaaz to David to tell him 
all that Absalom was s:oinsf to do. 



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While David and his friends were going away, a man named Shimei, one of the 
house of Saul, came out and cursed David, and cast stones at him, and reviled him. 
Abishai asked David to let him go and cut off Shimei's head; but David would not. 
David and his friends went a long distance from Jerusalem, and then they camped 
to refresh themselves, for they were tired and dusty. And a good man, named Barzillai, 
the Gileadite, when he heard what had happened, came with some of his friends 
bringing beds and dishes and wheat and flour and parched corn, and butter and honey 
and cheese and meat, to David's camp. 

David was very grateful to Barzillai, and when at last he was at peace again, 
he sent for him and did all that was in his power to show his gratitude. 

Then Absalom and all his army came to Jerusalem. Kven he was surprised to 
see Hushai there, for he knew that Hushai had been his father's friend. But Hushai 
made Absalom believe that he was now his friend : for he wanted to defeat the counsei 
of wise Ahithophel. 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



"3 



Ahithophel gave Absalom good counsel ; he advised him to send twelve thousand 
men to pursue David, while he had only a few people with him, so he could easily 
be conquered. But Hushai said it would be better for Absalom to wait until he could 
gather all Israel together, and then go himself to fight at their head. This misleading 
counsel pleased Absalom better, and he decided to follow it. 

Before long a great many people had joined themselves to David, and Absalom 
came against them with a large army. 

When David knew this he gave strict charge to Joab and Abishai, his captains, 
saying, "Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom," for his 
heart yearned after his ungrateful son. 




The two armies met in a forest, and the people of David got the better of the 
people of Absalom, and the people of Absalom fled before them. Absalom was riding 
on a mule, and his thick hair caught in the boughs of a tree, and the mule ran away 
and left him hanging. Then Joab came up and thrust three darts through his heart, 
and killed him. Then Joab blew the trumpet, and all the people stopped chasing 
after the king's enemies. 

Then Joab sent a man named Cushi, and Ahimaaz, Zadok's son, to run and bring 
15 



ii4 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 




word to the king. When David knew that Absalom was dead, he went up to the 
room over the gate and wept: and as he went he said, " O my son Absalom, my son, 
my son Absalom ! Would God that I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son !" 

After Absalom was dead the people who had followed Absalom were sorry that 
they had rebelled against David, and they sent for him to come back to Jerusalem, 
that he might once more rule over the whole nation. And David did so, and he 
forgave all those who had rebelled, and had none of them punished. Even Shimei, 
who had cursed him, was forgiven, when he came and fell down before David and 
confessed his sin. 

After that there was a famine, and God said it was because of Saul's cruelties 
to the Gibeonites. And the Gibeonites asked that seven of Saul's descendants might 
be given up to them to be slain, as atonement, and David gave up seven of the descend- 
ants of Saul, and they were slain. Before our Saviour came people did not know 
the law of forgiveness of enemies, as they now do. 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



"5 



Thr Books of Kings and Chronicles. 

At last David was an old man, and he wanted to make Solomon his son kino- 
before his death, that there might be no quarrels between his sons when he was gone. 
Therefore he called Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son 
of Jehoiada, who was one of his chief captains, and bade them put Solomon on the king's 
own mule, and lead him through the city and proclaim that he was king. And when 
this had been done he called 
together all his court, the prin- 
ces of the tribes, and the great 
men, and the high officers of 
the army, and he stood up be- 
fore them, and Solomon stood 
before him, and he gave him 
his last charge in the presence 
of them all. He told him how 
he had had it in his heart to 
build a house for the Lord, 
and how God had told him 
that he was not to do it be- 
cause he had been a man of 
war, but that his son should 
build it. And he told how he 
had gathered tog-ether timber 
and stones, and gold and silver 
in great quantities for the ves- 
sels of the house of the Lord, 
and he charged Solomon to go 
on and build it according to 
the patterns which he had 
provided for him. And he 
bade Solomon be strong and 
fear not, for God would not fail nor forsake him if he continued faithful. 

When David had ended his charge to Solomon all the princes and captains and 
great men brought offerings for the temple, and the people blessed God, and then the 
priests offered sacrifices, and afterwards every one made merry in a great feast. 

Not long after this David died. He had been king for forty years, and during 
that time he had put down all the enemies of his country, and he had made himself 
ruler over a very large kingdom, reaching almost from the river Euphrates to the 
Mediterranean Sea. Now Solomon could look forward to a peaceful reign in which 
he could build the Temple of the Lord. 




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After David was dead, Solomon became king over all Israel. And not long after 
he came to the throne Solomon had a dream in which God appeared to him and said, 
"Ask me what I shall give thee!" And what did Solomon ask for? not riches nor 

honor, nor victory over his 
enemies, nor even a long life. 
What he asked for was wis- 
dom that he might rule that 
great nation in the right way. 
And God was pleased with 
Solomon's choice, and told 
him that he should be the 
wisest man that had ever 
lived, and that he should have 
all the other things too. So 
Solomon awoke and found 
that it was a dream, but he 
knew that God had sent him 
the dream, and would surely bless him if he did right. 

Then Solomon offered up sacrifices, and made a feast to all his people, in honor 
of his coming to the kingdom. And the promise of God was kept to him. He became 
a very wise man, knowing not only how to rule his kingdom well, but many other 
things. He wrote many books on many subjects. The Bible tells us that he spoke 
three thousand proverbs and a thousand and five songs, and that he wrote about all sorts 
of plants and trees and animals. And the rest of God's promise was also kept; his 
kingdom grew larger, until it became the most powerful kingdom that there was in 
the world at that time. 

Not very long after Solomon became king he had an opportunity to prove whether 
or not God had given him the wisdom that he asked for. One morning as he was 
sitting on his judgment seat, two women came before him. Each carried a babe in her 
arms, but one of them was dead. 

One of the mothers told the story. The two women lived in the same house, 
and both had a little child born the same day. But one night one of the babies died, 
and its mother took her dead babe and stole softly up to the other woman while she 
slept, and took away her living babe from her arms and put the dead babe there 
instead. When this woman awoke in the morning she found that her babe was dead: 
but when she looked again she saw that it was not her babe, but that of the other 
woman. This was the story that one woman told. But the other woman said, No, the 
living babe was hers, and the dead babe belonged to the other woman. For both of 
them wanted the living child. 

Then Solomon called for a man with a sword, and he said, "Take the living babe 
and divide it in half, and give one half to each mother." 

Then the true mother of the child cried out, "O my lord, give her the living babe 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 1 17 

and don't kill it," for she could not bear that her little baby should be killed. But 
the other woman said, "Yes, let it be neither mine nor yours, but divide it." 

Then the kin? said, "The one who said 'Do not kill it' is the true mother: <nve 
it to her." And every one was surprised at the wisdom of the king. 

As soon as King Solomon had settled the affairs of his kingdom and appointed 




his chief officers, he began to build the temple. For this great work his father had 
been many years preparing, and Solomon had plenty of money, of gold and silver, 
for the work. He began by asking the help of Hiram, King of Tyre, who had been 
his father's friend. The men of Tyre were famous for their ships, and Solomon 
agreed with Hiram to fit out a fleet to send to various countries for the brass and ivory 
and other things that he needed. And as the men of Tyre knew how to work in 
metals better than the men of any other nation, and as they were also famous for the 
beautiful cloth they wove, and for the brilliant color, called Tyrian purple, which 
they knew how to dye, Solomon also hired a great many of Hiram's men to help 
in the work of the temple. The chief workman of all was from Tyre. 



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Solomon sent a great many men to Lebanon, in Hiram's country, to cut down 
the thick cedar trees for which Lebanon is famous, and which are very precious. 
The great logs were floated down the mountain streams to the sea, and there made 
into rafts and brought down to Joppa, which is the seaport of Jerusalem. The road 
between Joppa and Jerusalem must have been full of stir : pack-horses and mules 
carrying the rich stuffs and metals and ivory which the ships brought, or dragging up 
the logs from Lebanon, and people hurrying to and fro on the king's business. 

Besides these materials, vast blocks of marble were cut out of the quarries of 
Jerusalem and of Bethlehem. And thus was built the glorious temple, with its 
courts and marble columns, and Holy Place and Holy of Holies, like those in the tab- 



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119 




ernacle, but much larger and more beautiful. The gold that was used in building 
the temple was a hundred thousand talents, and the silver a thousand thousand, and the 

brass was not weighed, it was 
so much. The temple stood 
on the very top of Mt. Moriah, 
which was a high, steep hill 
in the midst of the city of Je- 
rusalem. It took more than 
seven years to build it, and 
when it was finished Solomon 
and all the people of Israel 
had a great festival, which 
lasted for fourteen days. On 
the first day of the festival 
the temple was dedicated. Many sacrifices were 
offered, and the priests sang loud songs of praise, with 
the music of many instruments, and as they sang the 
glory of the Lord came down and filled the house of the Lord. 
Then Solomon rose from the throne on which he had been 
sitting, near the great altar, and he stretched out his hands and 
blessed the people who were crowded in the great courts below. And he knelt down 
before the altar and prayed aloud, asking God to bless his people Israel, there and in 
all time to come, and forgive their sins when they sinned against him. 

Then the king offered thank-offerings and peace-offerings, and after that all the 
people feasted and made merry, for every one was glad that the house of God was 
built, a temple in which the only living and true God would dwell. 

After that Solomon built 
a beautiful palace for himself 
in Jerusalem, and fine houses 
for himself in other towns, 
and a palace for his wife, for 
he had married the daughter 
of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. 
He also had a throne made 
of solid ivory, overlaid with 
gold ; and twelve golden lions, 
six on each side, on the steps 
that went up to the throne. 
And he made three hundred 
golden shields and two hun- 
dred golden targets and all kinds of beautiful things. And it 
was said that silver was as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones. 




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All the people of other nations were talking about King Solomon, his riches, 
and the fine buildings that he built, and his wise way of ruling his people. The 
queen of Sheba, a country far south of Palestine, came to see -him and to hear his 
wisdom. She was a very rich queen, and she came with a long train of camels, 
bringing spices and precious stones and gold as gifts for Solomon. And when she 
saw all his riches, his houses and his throne, and the great number of his servants 
and attendants and the fine garments that they wore, and when she heard his wisdom, 
she was much surprised, and said that she had not believed all that she had heard 
before she came to Jerusalem, but she found that it was not half the truth, for every- 
thing was far grander than she had supposed. But most of all she prized his wisdom, 



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121 



and she said, " Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants who stand continually 
before thee and hear thy wisdom." 

But with all Solomon's wisdom he forsook God later on in his life, for he 
married many heathen wives, and they persuaded him to serve their gods. And so 
God said that he would take the kingdom away from Solomon's sons, and would 
give it to some one else. Only he would not take it entirely away, but would leave 
them the tribes of Judah and Benjamin for David's sake, for David had been his true 
servant. 

Now there was a young man named Jeroboam, who was a very bright and 
industrious man, and Solomon 
had put him in charge of the 
affairs of the tribe of Joseph. 
One day as Jeroboam was going 
out of the city a prophet named 
Abijah met him. Jeroboam had 
on a new robe, and Abijah took 
it and tore it into twelve pieces, 
and told Jeroboam to take ten 
of them, for God would rend 
the kingdom out of the hand 
of Solomon and would give ten 
tribes of it to him, because Sol- 
omon had served false gods. 

When Solomon heard of this he tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt 
and stayed there until Solomon was dead. 

Now when Solomon was dead the people came together and crowned his son 
Rehoboam king. When Jeroboam heard it he returned from Egypt, and he came 
with a number of other men to the king and asked him to be more gentle in his rule 
than his father had been, for Solomon had made their burden heavy. The old men, 
who had been his father's counselors, advised Rehoboam to answer the people gently, 
because he could win their favor thus: but the young men, his own friends, advised 
him to be stern and severe. So when Jeroboam and the people came again to hear 
his answer, he told them that he would be much more severe than his father had 
been. At this the people went away and made Jeroboam king. Only the tribes of 
Judah and Benjamin and the Levites were true to Rehoboam. 

At first Rehoboam thought of fighting against those tribes who had thus rebelled, 
and forcing: them to return to him. He gathered tog-ether a hundred and fourteen 
thousand picked men of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and made ready to march. 
But a prophet, named Shemaiah, came to him and told him that he must not fight 
against the tribes that had rebelled, for it was all from God because of Solomon's sins. 
Rehoboam obeyed the command of God and did not fight them; but afterwards he 
displeased God by serving idols, and so the Lord let Shishak, king of Egypt, come 
16 




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THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 




up against him with a great army. And Shishak took away the golden shields that 
Solomon had made, and all the treasures of the king's house and of the temple. 
Rehoboam had some brazen shields made in place of the golden shields that Shishak 
took away. 

Rehoboam reigned seventeen years, and there was war between him and Jeroboam 
most of the time. And then he died, and his son Abijam reigned in his stead. 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AXD STORY. 



123 



As for Jeroboam, he made golden calves and put them in two of the cities of 
Samaria, for so the kingdom of the ten tribes was called, and told the people that it 
was too far for them to go to Jerusalem to worship, and that these calves were now 
their gods. So the people worshipped idols and forgot the true God more and more. 

After Jeroboam died there were other kings over Samaria, but they all wor- 
shipped idols and made the peo- 
ple sin. At last a king came 
to the throne whose name was 
Ahab, who did evil beyond all 
that had been done by any of 
the kings before him. He mar- 
ried a very wicked woman 
named Jezebel, the daughter of 
the king of Sidon, and she per- 
suaded him to serve the gods 
of the Phoenicians, Baal and 
Ashteroth. And Ahab built a 
great temple for Baal in the city 
of Samaria, which he made his 
capital, and a temple for Ash- 
teroth in the city of Jezreel, 
which he built, and a great many men became priests of 
these heathen gods. Four hundred and fifty heathen priests 
5 were fed every- day at Jezebel's table, and Jezebel gave orders 
that all the Lord's prophets should be killed, and she persecuted 
those who served the true God, so that at last no one dared to 
say that he believed in the true God. When the persecution was 
at its worst a servant of Ahab's, named Obadiah, hid a hundred 
of the Lord's prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and brought 
them food. If Jezebel had heard of it she would have killed the 
prophets and Obadiah too. This Obadiah is not the prophet who wrote one of the 
books of the Bible. He was the governor of Ahab's house, which was a very impor- 
tant office, and he must have been a very faithful man, and very useful to Ahab, or 
Jezebel would have killed him, too; for we cannot believe that Obadiah worshipped 
Baal and Ashteroth. He was far too brave a man to deny his God. 

Then God sent a prophet called Elijah, who came and stood before Ahab and 
Jezebel as they sat upon their throne, and said to them that there should not be dew 
nor rain for three years, because they had displeased God. Now a drouth is a dreadful 
thino- evervwhere, but it is most dreadful in those hot eastern countries, where soon 
after rain ceases the springs dry up, and the grass and grain wither away and die. 

God told Elijah to go to a place where there was a brook called Cherith, and 
live there during- the drouth. It was far away among the hills, and there was no 




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THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



way to get any food there : but every 
morning and every evening some ra- 
vens came, and brought bread and 
meat to him. At last the brook dried 
up, and then God told Elijah to go to 
a little village called Zarephath. It 
was not in Palestine at all, but north 
of Palestine, in Phoenicia, and even 
there the drouth had come. Elijah 
went to Zarephath, as the Lord had 
bidden him to do, and when he arrived 
there he sat down outside of the city 
gate, and he saw a poor widow pick- 
ing up sticks. So Elijah asked her to 
bring him some water to drink, and as 
she was going for it he called after 
her, "Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel 
of bread in thine hand." Then the 
woman told him that she had not any, 
that all that she had was a little flour 
in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse, 
and she was gathering the sticks that 
she might make them into a cake and 
bake them for her and her son, that 
they might have one more meal before they should all starve to death together. 

Then- Elijah told her to make a cake for him first, and afterwards for herself 
and her son, for God said that the oil and the flour should not waste away until 
the famine was over. The woman had faith in Elijah's words, and she did as he 
asked her to do, and Elijah went home and lived with her, and the flour and the 
oil lasted and gave them enough to eat until the famine was over, as God had said. 

It was not a small thing that this poor widow did, when she thus had faith in 
Elijah's word, and gave him the cake made of her very last flour and oil. How 
many of us would be willing to give our very all to God's servants, even though there 
is nothing to prevent our getting more, as there was in that "time of famine? And 
this poor woman had not known God as we may know him. We have the Bible to 
tell us of the wonderful things that he has done in the past, and we know that he is 
always the same. But this poor woman had hardly heard of God. 

After a time the widow's son fell ill and died, and the woman came and told 
Elijah. Then he took the little boy out of his mother's arms and carried him up 
into the loft where he slept and laid him on his own bed. And he prayed to 
God to let the child's soul come back to him again. Then he stretched himself upon 
the child to warm him, and then he prayed again; and he did thus three times. And 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 




125 



God heard his prayer, and the child's soul came back to him, so that he was alive and 
well. Then Elijah carried the little boy back to his mother, and from that time she 
believed in the true God, for before that time she had worshipped idols, like the other 
people of that country. 

At last God sent rain on the earth. But Elijah went far off into the wilderness 
and lay down under a juniper tree, and asked God to let him die, for he was dis- 



126 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 




couraged with the sinfulness of the people. Then he went to sleep, and after a time 
an angel came and touched him and told him to arise and eat. And he looked, and 
there was a cake baked on the coals, and a cruse of water. So he ate, and then he 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



127 



went a long way off into the desert. There God spoke to him and bade him go and 
tell Ahab that he was to be punished for all the evil that he had done, and that the 
dogs should lick up his blood and the blood of his sons, and that they should eat 
Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel, their royal city. 

After this Benhadad, king of Syria, came to war against Ahab, and Ahab sent 
to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, to ask him to help him fight Benhadad. So Jehosha- 
phat came with his army, but he asked Ahab first to send for a prophet of the Lord 
to tell them whether they ought to go or not. So the king sent for the prophets, 
and they all told him to go and prosper. But Jehoshaphat was not satisfied, and he 
said, "Is there no other prophet that we could inquire of ?" And Ahab said, "There 
is one other, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he always prophesies 
evil about me." Then Micaiah was called, and he said that he saw all Israel 
scattered as sheep without a shepherd, meaning by this that they would be defeated 




by Benhadad. But Ahab would not believe him, and they went to the battle, and 
Ahab was shot by an arrow and wounded, and his blood ran down into his chariot, and 
at evening he died, and they brought his body to Samaria to be buried, and the 
dogs came and licked up the blood from his chariot, as the Lord had said by Elijah. 

Now the time came when God would take Elijah to heaven ; and Elijah was 
walking towards Bethel, and a young prophet, named Elisha, was walking with him. 



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THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 




Elijah had told Elisha to 
stay at Gilgal, for God had 
sent him to Bethel. But Eli- 
sha would not leave Elijah. 
There was a school of the 
prophets in Bethel, and the 
young prophets told Elisha 
that God was going to take 
Elijah away, and he said he 
knew it. Then they went on 
to Jericho, where there was an- 
other school of the prophets, 
and they told Elisha the same 
thing, and he again said that 
he knew it. Then they came 
to the river Jordan, and Elijah 

took off the mantle that he wore and smote the waters, and they were divided, and the 
two went over on dry ground. 

Then Elijah asked Elisha what he should do for him before he was taken away, 
and Elisha asked for an elder son's portion of his spirit : for the portion of an elder 
son was double that of other sons. And Elijah said that if he were with him when he 
was taken away it should be so. While they were talking a chariot of fire and horses 
of fire appeared, and Elijah was carried away to heaven. But his mantle fell from off 
him and Elisha picked it up; and he went back to the river Jordan and smote the wa- 
ters with the mantle and said, "Where is the L,ord God of Elijah?" And the waters 

were parted and he went through on dry 
land. The young men of the prophets' 
school at Jericho were watching him from 
a hill near the city, and they said, "The 
spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha," and 
they went to meet him and bowed down 
before him. 

After a time the king of Israel, Ahab's 
son, Jehoram, sent for the kings of Judah 
and Edom to come and help him fight 
against Moab. As they went they came to 
a desert place where there was no water. 
So they sent for Elisha to come and tell 
them how to get water, and Elisha told 
them to dig a great many ditches. When 
they had done so God sent water and filled 
the ditches, and the army could drink. But 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



129 







the king of Moab saw the 
water looking red under the 
morning sun, and he thought 
that the three kings' armies 
must have quarrelled and killed 
one another. And the army of 
Moab rushed out in confusion 
to get the spoils, and the three 
kings' armies overcame them, 
and made the king of Moab 
serve Israel as he had done 
before. 

At one time the army of 
Syria came up against Israel, 
and Elisha sent word to the 
king where the Syrians were, 
and saved him and his army. 

He did this a number of times, so that at last the Syrian king tried to take Elisha and 

kill him. And he sent a number of chariots and horsemen to the city where Elisha 

was. But Elisha prayed to God and he smote the Syrians with blindness, and Elisha 

came out and offered to show them their way, and he led them to Samaria, into the 

very midst of the army of Israel. So the Syrian king saw that he could do nothing, 

and he went back to his own country. 

One day a widow of one of the prophets came to Elisha and told him that she was 

in debt, and her creditor was going to sell her two sons for slaves to pay the debt. 

Elisha asked her what 

she had in the house, 

and she said she had 

nothing but a pot of oil. 

Then he told her to eo 

and borrow all the emp- 
ty jars and jugs that she 

could and pour oil into 

them from her pot, and 

there should be enough 

oil to fill them all. And 

she did so, and sold the 

oil, and there was enough 

to pay the debt. 

Now Elisha used to 

travel about the country 

from one school of the 
17 




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THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR V. 



prophets to another; and one day, as he was passing through a place called Shunein, a 
rich woman invited him to her house. And whenever he went that way he stopped at 
her house, and she had a room built for him, and put in it a bed and a table and -a chair. 
Elisha wanted to do something for her, and he said to Gehazi, his servant, " What 
shall be done for her?" And Gehazi said, " She has no child." So Elisha prayed God 
to send her a child, and God sent her a son and the woman was very happy. But when 

the little boy could run about 
he went one day into the field 
where his father was watching 
his reapers. And the sun was 
hot, and he said to his father, 
"My head, my head!" Then 
his father said, "Carry him to 
his mother." So they carried 
him to his mother and laid 
him on her lap, but about 
noon he died. 

Then the mother took her 
little boy and laid him on the 
bed in the room that was kept 
for Elisha, and she rode on an 
ass and went to Mount Carmel, 
where Elisha was. Elisha saw 
her coming, and he sent Ge- 
hazi to ask, "Is it well with 
thee? Is it well with thy hus- 
band? Is it well with the 
answered, "It is well." But when she 
e fell on her knees before him, and told 
him that her little boy was dead. Then Elisha told Gehazi 
to take his staff and go and lay it on the child's face; and he 
followed with the mother. 
When they reached the house he went into his room and shut the 
door and prayed, and then he went and stretched himself over the 
child's dead body, and the little body grew warm, and presently the 
child sneezed and opened his eyes. And Elisha sent for the mother, and 
when she came there was her little son alive and well ! We can think how 



grateful that mother was to Elisha and to God when she took the little boy 

in her arms again. 

Now the king of Syria had a captain named Naaman, and he was a great captain, 

but he had a dreadful disease, called leprosy. His wife had a little maid who had 

been carried away captive out of Israel, and one day, when the little Israelitish maid 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



l V 




was waiting on her mistress, she said that she wished her master were with the 
prophet that was in Samaria, for he would cure him of his leprosy. 

Some one repeated the little maid's words, and the king 'of Syria heard of it, 



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THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



and told Naatnan that he would send him with a letter to King Joram. So he sent 
Naaman, with a present of gold and silver and fine clothes and a letter to the king, 
asking him to heal Naaman's leprosy. 

When King Joram read the letter he rent his clothes and said, "Am I God, to 
kill and to make alive, that this man sends to me to heal a man of his leprosy ?" For 
there was then no cure for leprosy, and is not now : so Jehoram thought that the king 
of Syria was only trying to fix a quarrel on him. 

Elisha heard of it, and sent word to remind the king that there was a God in Israel, 
and bade him send Naaman to him. 

Then Naaman came with his horses and chariot and stood at Elisha's door. 
And Elisha sent word to him, "Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thou shalt 
be clean." 

Then Naaman was very angry, for he had thought that Elisha would come out 
to him and do some wonderful thing to heal him, and he said that the rivers of his 
own country were as good as the river Jordan : so he went away in a rage. 

But his servants came and begged him to obey the prophet's word. So Naaman 
went and did as Elisha had said, and he was healed at once. 




Then he felt very grateful, and he went back to Elisha, with all his servants, 
and carried him rich presents ; but Elisha would not take them. And Naaman 



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*33 




believed in the true God, for he knew that none of the idols of Samaria could do for 

him what the God of Elisha had done. 

Now the time had come to fulfil the word of the Lord that he had spoken to Ahab 

by Elijah. King Jehoram had a captain named Jehu, and it was he whom the Lord 

had appointed to put an end to the family of Ahab. Therefore Elisha sent a young 

prophet to anoint Jehu, secret- 
ly, to be king of Israel. When 
Jehu's fellow captains heard 
of it they proclaimed him 
king, and then they all set 
out for Jezreel, where Jeho- 
ram was. 

When Jehoram heard that 
a great army was coming he 
went out to meet it, not 
knowing who it was, but 
thinking at first that it was 
the army of Syria. When he 
saw that it was his own cap- 
tain who had rebelled against 
him, he turned his chariot to 
flee : but Jehu drew a bow and 
killed him, and commanded 
that his body should be thrown 
out upon the ground for the 
dogs to eat. Then he drove 
on to Jezreel. The old queen, 
Jezebel, saw him coming from 
the window of her palace, for 
it was built upon the wall. 
She was as brave as ever she 
had been, and she dressed her 
hair and painted her face and 
looked out of the window and spoke scornfully to Jehu as he drove 
up. Then Jehu called out, "Who is on my side?" and two or 
three chamberlains looked out of the window. And he said, " Throw 
her down." So they threw her down, and it killed her, and the 
dogs came and ate her, as God had said by the mouth of Elijah. 
Jehu destroyed the temples of Baal and Ashtoreth, but he did not 

destroy the golden calves which Jeroboam had made, and the people of Israel continued 

to worship them. For this reason God began to cut short the power of Israel, and 

much of the land of Israel passed under the power of other kings. 



;x 



SSj^'i ' !>£&.-: 





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THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



Jonah. 

The name of this prophet was Jonah. The Bible does not tell us who he was 
but the Jews have a tradition that he was that widow's son whom Elijah restored to life 
and that he afterwards became the servant of Elijah, and that it was he whom Elisha 




sent to anoint Jehu king. If this is true he must have been very old at this time, for 
it was now the beginning- of the reign of Jeroboam II., the great-grandson of Jehu. 

But some years before this we know that Jonah was sent by God on such an errand 
as none of the prophets had ever been sent on before. For God told Jonah to arise and 
go to the great city of Nineveh and prophesy against it. Now Nineveh was the capital 
of Assyria, which was a country a long 
way off, on the river Euphrates, and it 
was then the most powerful nation in 
the world. Nineveh was a magnificent 
city, full of splendid palaces and temples 
and great statues and large parks and 
fields. It was sixty miles around, and 
contained hundreds of thousands of peo- 
ple. _. - 

Jonah did not want to go to prophesy s "* -r 

against Nineveh, and so he resolved to 
run away from the presence of God. He 




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J 35 



went down to Joppa and took passage on a ship which was bound for Tarshish, far off 
in Spain. But the Lord sent a fearful storm, which nearly wrecked the ship. Jonah 
knew what it meant, and he told the sailors to throw him out into the sea. They did 
not wish to do so, but he told them that they must, and as the vessel was in danger of 
being wrecked, they at last obeyed, and the storm ceased. 

God had prepared a great fish, which swallowed Jonah and then swam to the shore, 
and after three days cast him upon the land. And Jonah no longer tried to run away 
from God : he went to Assyria and entered the city of Nineveh, and prophesied that 
the city was going to be destroyed. And the men of Nineveh repented of their sins 
when they heard Jonah, and asked God to forgive them : so God did not destroy their 
city. 

But Jonah was very angry because his prophecies did not come true. And he 
went out of the city and built a hut and sat there to see what would happen. It was 




very hot, and God made a gourd to grow, and it shaded Jonah with its large leaves, 
and he was glad for the gourd. Then God sent a worm to gnaw the gourd and it 
withered, and again Jonah was angry. Then God said, " You are sorry for the gourd, 
for which you have taken no trouble, and should not I have pity on this great city, in 
which are so manv innocent children and much cattle?" Thus God reproved Jonah. 



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The Books of Kings and Ghroniglrs 

Again. 

From this time on the people of Israel went on from bad to worse. They 
worshipped the gods of the nations around them, and even made their children pass 
through the fire to the fearful god Moloch. This was an enormous brazen image with 
he head of a calf, made hot by a fire kindled 
beneath it, in whose outstretched arms the ten- 
der little children were laid, then to roll down 
into the fire below. And the people were tur- 
bulent and bloody, killing one king after an- 
other. God sent many prophets to warn them 
of their evil deeds and to try to make them 
give up their wickedness, but it. was of no use. 
Amos and Hosea and Nahum, whose prophecies 
are in the Bible, were among the prophets sent 
to Israel at this time. Finally God sent the 
king of Assyria against them. He came and 
besieged the city of Samaria for three years, 
and the people suffered horribly from famine. 
At last he took the city, and he carried away 
to Nineveh a great many of the people — all 
the priests and the nobles and the rich men, 

and left only the poor people to till the land. He left so few people that the wild 
beasts and even lions began to come up into their towns and villages. So then the 
king of Assyria sent some of his own people to live among them, to keep the country 
from going entirely to waste. 

The men who were carried away to Assyria never came back, as a nation, and 
the kingdom of Israel, that is, of the ten tribes, was at an end for ever. The people 
who were left in the land, part Israelites and part foreign, were called Samaritans, and 
we shall hear of them again. 

While the kingdom of Israel was thus going on from bad to worse, the kingdom of 
Judah had some kings who were good and served the Lord, and some who were wicked 
and served idols. Jehoshaphat, that king who had been so friendly with wicked Ahab, 
was a good king, but he took Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, for his son's 
wife. Athaliah was like her mother, and during her long life she did great evil, and 
caused many people to worship idols and to do wrong. 

At last, just before the kingdom of Israel was broken up, a king began to reign 
in Judaea whose name was Hezekiah. His father Ahaz had been very wicked, and 
had shut up the Lord's house, and had worshipped idols, and made his people to sin, 




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'3/ 



but the mother of Hezekiah was the daughter of a prophet, called Zechariah, though 
not the Zechariah whose prophecies are in the Bible. Hezekiah was the best king who 
had reigned since Solomon, and there was no king after him so good as he. In his days 
the great prophet Isaiah lived, and he helped Hezekiah to reform his kingdom and 
to restore the worship of God. 

Still Hezekiah had many troubles. Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against 
him, and took many of his cities, and laid siege to Jerusalem. The people were all 
in great distress, for they were much afraid of Sennacherib. But Isaiah prophesied that 
the king should go back to his own country, and that he should do Judah no harm, and 
it was so; for the Lord sent his angel in the night and killed a great number of his 
men, and of his nobles and officers, and the next morning those of the army that were 
left went back to their own land. 

At one time a party of men came to see Hezekiah. They were from Babylon, 
which was not a very great nation at that time. Hezekiah received them kindly and 

showed them all his treasures. After they 
were gone Isaiah came and asked Heze- 
kiah what they had seen, and Hezekiah 
told him that they had seen all the treas- 
ures of the palace and of the Lord's house. 
Then Isaiah told him that the days would 
come when the king of Babylon would 
come up against Jerusalem and would con- 
quer it, and would carry away all the treas- 
ures of the Lord's house and of the king's 
palace to Babylon. For the heart of Heze- 
kiah had grown proud, because he had 
done so many good things, and had made, 
so many friends, and had received so many 
presents. It Is hard to keep humble when 
one is rich and everybody speaks well of 
one. But when Isaiah reproved Hezekiah 
he repented, and prayed God to forgive 
him, and God did forgive him. So no 
harm came to Jerusalem in his day. When 
it did come it was because the people were 
wicked and sinned against God. 

When Hezekiah had reigned about 

fourteen years he became very ill, and 

the prophet Isaiah came to him and bade 

him set his house in order, for God had said that he was to die. Then Hezekiah 

prayed to the Lord and besought him to let him live : and God heard him and sent 

Isaiah back to tell him that he should live fifteen years longer. 

18 




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Hezekiah did much to 
improve Jerusalem, besides 
repairing the temple and 
pulling down the altars of 
idols. He made a great pool 
and brought water into the 
city, and built storehouses 
and fine stables for horses 
and for his flocks, and made 
many beautiful things for the 
temple. 

Manasseh, the son of 
Hezekiah, was a very wicked 
king, and he rebuilt all the 
idol altars that his father had 
pulled down. His son Josiah 
was a very good king and 
served God with all his heart. 
He was only eight years old 
when he began to reign, but 
as soon as he was grown up 
he set to work to restore the 
temple, for it was all in ruins. 
While the temple was 
being repaired, Hilkiah, the 
high-priest, found the book 
of the law of the Lord, which 
had been neglected for many 
years, and Shaphan, a scribe, 
or learned man, brought it 
and read it to the king. 
When Josiah heard it read 
he rent his clothes with grief 
that the law T s of God had been so little obeyed, and he restored the temple worship 
according to the directions in the book of the law. But the hearts of the people were 
not changed, and after Josiah died they went on from bad to worse, until God sent a 
great punishment upon them. 

But before the final punishment came he sent evils upon them as a warning. The 
king of Egypt came and conquered them, and took away their king Jehoahaz to Egypt, 
and made his brother Jehoiakim king. But Jehoiakim had to pay a great sum of money 
every year to the king of Egypt, and he had to tax his people very heavily to get it, 
and that made them all very unhappy and discontented. 




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'39 




Jeremiah. 

At this time there was a great and good prophet named Jeremiah, whose heart was 
almost broken by the troubles which had come upon his people. He preached to them 

day and night, warning them 



to turn to the Lord. But 
many of the priests and 
even of the prophets were 
wicked, and they turned 
upon Jeremiah and had him 
put in prison, and for a time 
his feet were made fast in 
the stocks. 

Jeremiah had one friend 
who was true to him in all 
his trouble. It was a young 
man named Baruch. While 
Jeremiah was in the prison 
Baruch came to him, and 
wrote clown all the proph- 
ecies that Jeremiah had spoken to the people. And after they were written Baruch 

went to a room over one of the new gates which Josiah had built for the temple, 

and a number of the princes came together there, and Baruch read to them all the 

warning-s and the teachings of 

Jeremiah. They were terrified 

when they heard what God had 

spoken, and one of the princes, 

named Jehudi, carried the roll 

to the king. King Jehoiakim 

was sitting beside a fire which 

had been kindled in a brazier, 

for the weather was cold, and 

there were a number of the 

princes with him. They all lis- 
tened when Jehudi began to 

read the roll, but before he had 

read far the king took the roll 

ont of his hand and cut it into 

strips and threw it upon the 

fire. It was a wicked thing to 

do, but neither the king nor the 




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princes were afraid, or cared whether they displeased God or not, so hardened were they. 
Baruch went back and told Jeremiah what had been done to the roll, and Jeremiah 

told him to write it out again. But it was 
too late now to save Jerusalem or the people 
of Judah. The punishment which God had 
told them he would send upon them if they 
forsook him was now drawing near. 

By this time the kingdom of Babylon 
had become a great power; and its king, 
Nebuchadnezzar, came up against Judaea, 
and conquered it, and made the king pay 
him tribute. But after three years Jehoia- 
kim would not pay the tribute, and so Nebu- 
chadnezzar sent the Moabites and the Syri- 
ans and other people whom he had con- 
quered, to fight against Judah and to trouble 
the people in every way that they could. 
And afterwards the king of Babylon came 
himself and fought against Jerusalem, and 
put Jeconiah, or Jehoiachin, in fetters and 
carried him and his mother to Babylon, and with them all the treasures of the Lord's 
house, and he took away many princes and prophets and priests, and all the best soldiers 
and smiths and workmen, and left only the poorer people in the land. 

Among those who were carried away captive to Babylon were the prophet Ezekiel 
and the four princes who are known to us as Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 
It was a long and dreadful 
journey that they took, for 
Babylon is very far from Ju- 
daea, and a wide desert lies 
between. And no doubt the 
captives were driven along 
rudely by the soldiers and 
made to suffer many things. 
But the most cruel suffering 
of all was the thought that 
God was displeased, and that 
the people had brought this 
punishment iipon themselves 
by their sins. It is thought 
by some people that the beau- 
tiful forty-second and forty- 
third Psalms were written by 




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141 




King Jeconiah when he saw the last of his native country from the top of Mt. Hermon, 
and from the hill Mizar: "As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my 
soul after thee, O God. ... O my God, my soul is cast down within me, therefore will 
I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar." 
If he did not write it, no doubt the words came to his memory in that sad hour. We 
may believe that Jeconiah did repent and call upon God, for after he had been in 
Babylon many years the king- who came after Nebuchadnezzar was kinder to him, 
and made him more comfortable than he had been before. 



14- 



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When all the best people of the country were carried away captive, Nebuchadnezzar 
left the poorest of the people in Judah to till the land, and made Zedekiah, the brother 
of Jehoiakim, and the uncle of Jeconiah, king over them. Zedekiah was to pay tribute 
to Nebuchadnezzar, as Jehoiakim had done. 

Jeremiah was also left in Jerusalem, and for a time he was almost broken-hearted. 

He sat among the ruins of his beloved city 

and lamented, wishing that his head were 

1 a fountain of tears, that he might weep day 

BafiES and night over the sorrows of Jerusalem. 

Still he did not give up trying to make his 
people obey the Lord. At first Zedekiah 
seemed to wish to do right, and Jeremiah 
helped him. The king called the people 
together and told them that in such times 
of trial no one ought to keep one of his 
own brethren, of the children of Israel, in 
slavery, as many of them were doing; and 
they all made a solemn covenant with God, 
and let all their slaves go free. And Jere- 
miah told the people that it was the will 
of God that they should serve the king of 
Babylon patiently, and not rebel against 
him, and that after seventy years he would 
bring them all back from captivity and would give them their own land again. And 
Jeremiah wrote a letter to those who had been carried captive, and told them to 
build houses and plant vineyards in Babylon, for God wished them to stay there, and 
after seventy years he would bring them back again to their own land. 

But it was not long before both the king and the people grew tired of obeying 
God. They made the slaves whom they had freed to become slaves again, and the 
king broke his word to Nebuchadnezzar and made a treaty with the king of Egypt, 



although Jeremiah warned him against it, and even Ezekiel, the prophet who had been 
carried to Babylon, sent word to him not to do so. 

Then Nebuchadnezzar sent his army again, and they destroyed some of the cities 
of Judaea. Jeremiah saw that it was of no use to try to do anything more for his people, 
and he was going away to his own city of Anathoth when the king sent and had him 
arrested, and had him put in a dungeon and kept him there for many days. Then 
Zedekiah sent for him secretly and asked him if there was any word from the Lord, 
and Jeremiah answered, "There is: thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king 
of Babylon." Jeremiah begged the king not to send him back to the dungeon, for 
he was sure that he should die there, and the king gave orders for him to be kept 
in the court of the prison. But when the nobles found that he would not say anything 
different from what he had said before, but always told them that it was God's will 




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'43 




for them to submit to the king of Babylon, they were very angry, and they carried 
him away to the house of one of his worst enemies and let him down into a well 
that was in the court. There was no water in the well, but the bottom was a deep 
mire, and Jeremiah sank up to his armpits in the mire. 

But one of the king's slaves heard how cruelly the princes had used Jeremiah, 
and he told the king, and the king gave him leave to take Jeremiah out of the well. 
So Ebed-melech, the slave, took a guard and went and drew Jeremiah out of the well. 
They threw down old rags to him, that he might put them under his arms and so not be 
hurt by the ropes. And after that he was kept in the court of the prison until the 
siege of Jerusalem was over. 

That was a terrible siege. There was no food, and the people suffered tortures 
of hunger. No other siege was ever more full of horrors, but the people held out for 
a year and a half. Then the walls were broken down and the army of Babylon could 
no longer be kept out. King Zedekiah and his soldiers tried to escape by night, 
but they were overtaken and caught. The sons of Zedekiah were slain before his 
eyes, and all the nobles were slain, and Zedekiah's eyes were put out and he was carried 
to Babylon. And the city of Jerusalem was burned with fire. The tombs were broken 
open and the dead bodies thrown to the jackals, and many people put to cruel deaths. 
A great many captives were carried away in chains to Babylon, and Jeremiah was 



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THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 




among them. But before they 

had gone far he was offered 

his choice to go or to stay, 

and he chose to stay with 

the few who were left. After 

a time those who were left 

decided to go to Egypt, and 

though Jeremiah advised them 

not to go, for it was not God's 

will, they would not listen to 

him, but made him also go 

with them. 

While all these terrible 

things were happening in Ju- 
daea, the captives in Babylon 

were mourning for their lost 

country. The one hundred 

and thirty-seventh Psalm tells 

how these sad-hearted exiles felt when they 

found themselves so far from their homes: "By the 

rivers of Babylon, there we sat down: yea, we wept when 

we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 

For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song, saying, Sing us 

one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's songs in a strange land !" 

Jeremiah had prophesied that the great city of Babylon would some time be 

destroyed. He wrote this prophecv in a book, and gave it to a priest named Seraiah, 

and bade him, when he came to Babylon, read the book to the people and call upon 

God to fulfil all its words, and then drop it in the river Euphrates for a sign. The 

prophecy did come true, though not for many, many years. 

After the city of Jerusalem was destroyed, and the 
people were carried away, Jeremiah wrote a poem of 
sorrow and mourning, for his heart was nearly broken 
over the sorrows of his people. The poem which he 
wrote is called the "Lamentations" of Jeremiah; it is 
in the Bible. "How doth the city sit sorrowful," he 
wrote, "she that was full of people !" "Her children 
are gone into captivity before the enemy." "Jerusalem 
hath grievously sinned, therefore is she removed." 

We do not know whether Jeremiah died in Egypt 
or not. Some things that he wrote seem as if they were 
written in Babylon, and perhaps he went there in his 
old age to preach to and comfort his people. 




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i45 



ELZRKIE1L. 

Among these captives the prophet Ezekiel, like Jeremiah in Jerusalem, tried 
to bring the people to submit to the will of God. Ezekiel had many •wonderful visions 
in which he learned what God would do to his people. And just after the siege of 
Jerusalem was ended, the Spirit of the L,ord carried him in a vision to a valley that was 

filled with the dry bones of people who had 
long been dead: and the Spirit bade Eze- 
kiel prophesy to these bones, and when he 
spoke to them in prophec}' they all became 
living men. And thus God taught Ezekiel 
He could do with the kingdom of Judah: 
though it seemed to be entirely dead, yet 
when the Spirit of God came upon it it 
would live again. And so Ezekiel went 
on teaching the people that God would for- 
give all who were sorry for their sins, and 
would give a new heart to all who asked 
him for it. He also spoke many prophe- 
cies about the other nations, Egypt, Tyre, 
Ammon, and others; but the most im- 
portant part of his work was to show 
the Jews their many sins against God, and 
that their captivity had come upon them 
as a punishment for their sin, especially in 
worshipping idols. And in fact the lessons 
of the captivity in this matter were never 
lost upon them. Up to this time they were 
constantly going after the false gods of the 
nations around them, but from the time 
they were carried away to Babylon they 
never worshipped any God but Jehovah. 
The prophecies of Ezekiel were a great comfort and source of strength to those 
of the banished Jews who repented of their sins and turned to God again. Though 
they were far from home and scattered, yet God told them by Ezekiel that he would 
be as "a little sanctuary" to them in whatever country they might be, and he 
promised to give them a new heart and a new spirit, so that they would delight in 
serving him. But to those who did not repent of their sins and seek after the Lord, 
Ezekiel brought many terrible warnings of what would be the result of their sin. Yet 
amid all his warnings he never ceased to remind the Jews that God would one day 
bring them back to their own land : for God would not forget his people, for David's 
sake and for the sake of his promise to Abraham. 
19 




146 



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Daniel. 

When the people of Judah were carried away captive into Babylon, there went 
among them four boys, who were princes, whom the king of Babylon decided to educate 



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147 



to be officers in his kingdom. He therefore commanded that they should be brought into 
the palace, and should be fed with such food and wine as was provided for the king's 
table. 

The names of the four boys were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; but 
the prince or officer who had the care of them changed their names to Belteshazzar, 
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Daniel is generally called by his Hebrew name, 
but we know the three other children best by their Chaldean names. 

Now these boys spoke to the steward, and asked that they might be given onlv 
porridge to eat and water to drink. At first the steward was afraid to do this, lest these 
boys should not be as strong and healthy as the other children under his care; but 
Daniel persuaded him to try it for three months, and at the end of that time they were 
so much fairer and healthier looking than the other children that he was willing to 
keep on. It was not because these four boys did not care for nice food that they made 
this request: it was because they cared most of all to please God, and would go without 
all nice food rather than run the risk of eating or drinking what he had forbidden. 
When the time came for them to be examined by the king, they were found to be wiser 
than any one else; and the king made them rulers over parts of his kingdom, and 
Daniel became one of his chief counsellors. 

After this Nebuchadnezzar made a great golden image, and set it up in a plain, and 
he -sent for all the great men to come 
and worship the image. When they were 
gathered together a herald proclaimed 
that when the people heard the sound of 
all manner of musical instruments they 
must fall down and worship the golden 
image: and whoever would not do so 
should be cast into a burning fiery fur- 
nace. Then the music sounded, and all 
the people fell down and worshipped. 

But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- 
nego did not fall down and worship, and 
some one came and told the king. Then 
the king sent for them, and told them that 
he would give them one more chance, 
and that if they did not then worship 
the image they should be cast into the 

burning fiery furnace. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered, "Our God 
whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver 
us out of thy hand, O king. But if not, be it known to thee, O king, that we will not 
serve thy gods nor worship the image which thou hast set up." 

Then the king was very angry, and he gave command that the furnace should be 
heated seven times hotter than before, and the three men thrown into it. And it was 




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done, and the fire was so hot that it killed the men who threw them in. So Shadrach, 
Meshach, and Abednego fell down in the midst of the furnace. 

But while the king was looking to see them burn up, he saw something that 
terrified him. For though he had caused these three men, bound, to be thrown into 

the furnace, he now saw four 

■ 



men, loose, walking without 
harm in the midst of the fire, 
and the form of the fourth was 
so majestic and grand that he 
thought it must be a son of 
God. Then he called with a 
loud voice to Shadrach, Me- 
shach, and Abednego to come 
out of the fire; and they came 
out, and were not hurt, nor did 
their clothes even smell of fire. 
Then Nebuchadnezzar gave or- 
ders that his people should wor- 
ship the God of Shadrach, Me- 
shach, and Abednego. 

Now Babylon, the city 
whither the people of Judah 
had been carried captive, was 
the largest and most beautiful 
city that ever was seen. Its palaces were very magnificent, it had hanging gardens, 
and a wall three hundred feet high and eighty feet wide, and the river Euphrates 
ran through the middle of it. Nebuchadnezzar was very proud of this city which 
he had done much to make beautiful. But God sent him a dream which he could 
not understand until Daniel interpreted it for him, and told him that it meant that 
because he was so proud, and did not serve God nor thank him for all the great 
things that he had, he should be driven out of his palace and become like a beast of 
the field. And so it was — for Nebuchadnezzar became crazy for a time and would 
not live in his palace, but lived in the fields and ate grass like the oxen, and his hair 
and his nails grew so long and stiff that they were like eagles' feathers and birds' 
claws. Then God gave him back his reason again, and he confessed that God was the 
true God and that all his power came from Him. 

Nebuchadnezzar had a great many dreams and visions, and Daniel interpreted 
them, for the Spirit of God was with Daniel. After Nebuchadnezzar died his son 
reigned, and after him his grandson, Belshazzar. While Belshazzar was king an army 
came from Persia, a country east of Chaldea, and besieged Babylon; but Belshazzar 
thought that his city was so strong it could never be taken, and he cared little for 
the Persians. And one night he made a great feast to all his nobles and officers, and 




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149 




sent for all the sacred dishes that had been taken out of the temple of Jerusalem and 
carried to Babylon, the beautiful cups and flagons of gold that had been consecrated to 
God, and he and his princes and his wives drank wine out of them. 

While they were making merry, and praising their gods of wood and stone, they 
saw the fingers of a man's hand writing on the wall opposite them some words which 



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they could not understand. Whose hand was it? And what was the meaning of those 
words? The king was so frightened that his knees smote together, and he cried out 
for the wise men to be sent for, that they might tell him what the words meant. 

Then all the wise men came, and the king told them that whoever would read the 
words and tell what they meant, should be clothed in royal robes, and have a gold chain 
about his neck, and be the third ruler in the kingdom. But none of the wise men could 
read the words nor interpret them. 

Then the king's mother came in and told them to send for Daniel, who had been 
his grandfather's chosen counsellor, and in whom the Spirit of God was. So Daniel 
came, and he read the words, and told the king that they meant that God had judged 
him for his wickedness, for He had weighed him in the balances and found him wanting; 
and that his kingdom should be divided and given to the Medes and Persians. And 




that very night the city of Babylon was taken by the Medo-Persian army which had 
been besieging it, and Belshazzar was killed, and Darius the. Median became king 
of Babylon. 

Now Darius the king made Daniel one of the highest officers in his empire, for 
he saw how wise he was. For Darius had a hundred and twenty provinces in his 
empire, and he put a prince over each one, and over the princes he put three presidents, 
and Daniel was the first of the presidents. Then all the princes and presidents were 
jealous of Daniel and tried to destroy him. They knew that they could not find him 
doing anything wrong, but they knew too how he loved his God and served Him, and 
they resolved to get him into trouble on that account. 

So they asked Darius to make a decree that no one should ask anything of any 



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god or man for thirty days, except of the king; and that whoever did should be thrown 
into a den of lions; and so the king made the decree and signed it. Now when Daniel 
knew of it, he went to his house and knelt down before an open window that looked 
in the direction of Jerusalem, and prayed: for it was his habit to pray looking towards 
Jerusalem, because he loved the memory of it so much. And this he did three times a 
day, as he always had done. And the princes who were watching saw him, and went 
and told the king. The king was very sorry he had made the law, and he tried all 
day to deliver Daniel; but it was the rule that the laws of the Medes and Persians could 

not be changed, and the 
princes insisted that Daniel 
should be thrown to the lions. 
But when they were taking 
him there the king said to 
him, "Thy God, whom thou 
servest continually, he will 
deliver thee." Then Daniel 
, was thrown into the den, and 
a stone rolled against it so 
that he could not get out. 

All night the king could 
not sleep, and early in the 
morning he hastened to the 
den of lions and called out to 
know if Daniel were stil] 
alive. And Daniel answered, 
"My God hath sent his an- 
gel and hath shut the lions' 
mouths, that they have not 
hurt me." 

Then the king was very 
glad, and he gave command for the stone to be rolled away and for Daniel to be 
taken out of the den. And when he came out there was no hurt anywhere upon him, 
because he believed in his God. 

But the king had those wicked men .who had tried to ruin Daniel thrown into the 
den, and the lions killed them at once. 

Daniel had many visions from God as to the things that should happen in the 
future, for he was very holy and very wise, and God showed him what He was going 
to do in time to come. At one time something was shown to Daniel which distressed 
him very much, so that he could not eat, and went mourning for three full weeks. 
Then God sent a glorious angel to comfort him ; and the angel said, "O man greatly 
beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee; be strong, yea, be strong," and told him that 
God heard all his prayers. It is a blessed thing to be "greatly beloved" of God. 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



'53 



ElZLRA. 

The time came at last when God's promises were to be fulfilled and the Jewish 
people were to return from their captivity. A great and good king came to the throne 




of Babylon. He was called Cyrus, and the prophets had foretold that he would cause 
the house of the Lord to be rebuilt. And so he gave orders that the Jews should be 
allowed to go back to Jerusalem, and that they should have money and timber and 
stones given to them as they needed, to rebuild the house of their God. 

Now came a time of great joy for the people of Judah. They set forth in a great 
caravan to go up to Jerusalem, taking with them all the gold and silver vessels which 
Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from the temple, for Cyrus had given them all 



20 



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THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



back again. Through the four months of the long journey they were full of songs 
and praises and thanksgiving. One beautiful Psalm tells us that they felt as if they 
were in a dream. And when they reached the place where they could see the ruins 
of Jerusalem, their holy city, away off on her hills, they could not contain their joy. 

The men who led the return were Zerubbabel, the grandson of King Jeconiah, 
and Joshua, the son of Josedech, who had been high-priest when the captivity began. 

It was a year after their return before the rubbish had been removed away so that the 




foundations of the new-temple could be laid. When the second Feast of the Tabernacles 
came round the people all assembled, and the priests put on their beautiful robes, which 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



the Prince Zerubbabel had given them, and there was a great day of rejoicing, for 
the corner-stone of the new temple was laid on that day. The priests blew the silver 
trumpets and the people all sang, "Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for 
his mercy endureth for ever!" and the people shouted with great shouts that could 
be heard afar off. But some of the old men, who had seen the old temple, wept with 
a loud voice, for they remembered the glory of that beautiful house. 

But the Samaritans who lived in the northern part of the country, where the 
kingdom of Israel had once been, did not want the temple to be built. They were 
a mixed people, descended partly from Israelites and partly from people who had been 

sent there from Assyria, and 
they were suspicious of the 
Jews. They went to the gov- 
ernor of the country with 
complaints, and wrote a let- 
ter to the king, and got him 
to command that the work 
should stop. So for twelve 
years there was no more work 
done upon the temple : but 
after that a new king came 
to the throne, and he allowed 
the work to go on. The peo- 
ple had been discouraged by 
having been stopped in their 
work, and they did not want to do anything 
about it, until the Lord sent two prophets, 
Haggai and Zechariah, and encouraged them 
to go on with the work, and told them that it was God's 
will; and they went on and built the temple. 

It was finished after four years, and at the time 
of the Passover, in the early spring, it was dedicated. There was first a solemn 
sacrifice of hundreds of oxen and sheep and lambs, and twelve goats, one to represent 
each of the twelve tribes, for though not all the tribes were there, yet they felt that all 
of the children of Israel, wherever they might be, had a right in the temple and in 
the blessing of God. And after this solemn service there was a time of feasting and joy. 
The new temple was very large and very fine, but it was not so rich as the temple 
of Solomon, for there was not so much gold and silver about it. And the Holy of 
holies was empty, for the ark had not been carried away with the other treasures 
of the temple. No one knows what became of it, though some of the Jews think 
that Jeremiah buried it, that the heathen should not get hold of it. But though the 
ark might be gone, God was with his people. He had saved diem out of the hands 
of their enemies, and their hearts were full of joy and praise. 




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THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 




After sixty years, however, word came to Babylon that the temple was much out of 
repair and that the worship of God was being neglected. Then a priest named Ezra 
went from Babylon to Jerusalem to repair the temple and restore the worship of God. 
It was Ezra's strong desire that the laws given by Moses should be strictly kept, and 
he encouraged many people to become scribes, or writers, to make copies of the law 
given by Moses, and to explain it to the people. 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



'57 



Nehrmiah. 

About twenty years after Ezra went to restore the temple service there was living 
in the court of Persia a young Jew named Nehemiah. One day one of his brothers^ 
who had been living in Jerusalem, came to see him, and Nehemiah asked about the 
Holy City, and his brother told him that the walls of the city were broken down and 
that the people were much troubled by their enemies. At this Nehemiah was much 
cast down, and the 
more he thought of it 
the more- unhappy he 
became, until at last he 
resolved to do what he 
could to help it. 

Now Nehemiah was 
the king's cupbearer, 
and one day when he 
went to wait upon the 
king, both the king and 
queen noticed how sad 
he was, and they asked 
him what was the mat- 
ter. Then Nehemiah 
prayed in his heart that 
God would guide him 
to say the right thing, 

and he told the king about the troubles at Jerusalem, and asked that he might go and 
rebuild the wall. And the king told him to go : and he made him tirshatha, that is 
governor, of Jerusalem, and gave him orders for all the timber and stones that he 
might need. So Nehemiah went to Jerusalem, and the king sent some soldiers to see 
that he got there safely. 

After he had been in Jerusalem three days, he went out by night, with a few 
of his men, to look at the wall, and he found it all broken down, and the rubbish 
heaped up so high in some places that he could hardly get by. When he had seen 
it all he called the rulers and elders and princes together, and told them that he had 
come to rebuild the wall. He told them, too, how good God had been to him in 
putting it into the king's heart to let him come; and they all said, "Let us rise up 
and build." And all the people of Jerusalem went to work with a will to rebuild 
the wall. 

There were some of the king's officers in Jerusalem, Sanballat and Tobiah and 
Geshem, who were not of the people of Israel, and they laughed Nehemiah to scorn. 
But Nehemiah was not afraid of them : he told them that his God was on his side 




158 



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and would protect him and his people, and that they would repair the wall. Nehe- 
miah divided the work into portions, and gave each part into the hands of a certain 
set of men, with rulers over them to superintend. In one place the priests built, and 
in another the men of Jericho, and in another the goldsmiths, and in another the 
Nethinim, who had the charge of work about the temple. And every man who lived 
near the wall worked opposite his own house. 

Then Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem came again and jeered at Nehemiah, 
and tried to discourage the people, and they said that the wall was built so badly that 
if a jackal should run over it he would break it down. So Nehemiah prayed to God 
to help him, and he would not give up the work. And when he heard that they 
had made a plan to gather 
the people who lived on the 
borders of Judaea, to come 
and fight against the Jews 
and stop their work, Nehe- 
miah bade the people gird 
on their swords and be ready 
to fight, but not to stop 
working. All dav long: Ne- 
hemiah went from place to 
place keeping watch, and a 
man with a trumpet beside 
him, and he bade the people 
all listen for the trumpet, 

and wherever they heard it, to go in that direction to help fight. The people were 
often much discouraged because there was so much rubbish to clear away, the wall 
being in such a ruined state, and it was such slow work, when they had constantly 
to keep a lookout for the enemy and keep their weapons at hand. But Nehemiah 
encouraged them all the time, telling them that God would fight for them, and that 
he would prosper their work. When they remembered that, they would cheer up again. 
Half the people kept guard every night and half slept. But Nehemiah and his men 
never took off their clothes nor took regular rest until the work was done. 

When Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem saw that, and found that they could not 
frighten Nehemiah and his people, they -sent word to Nehemiah, asking him to meet 
them in a certain village to talk things over, thinking thus to do him harm. But 
Nehemiah sent back word to them, "I am doing a great work, so that I cannot 
come down :" but his heart was heavy with all these troubles, and he prayed constantly 
to God to help him. And God brought all the plans of his enemies to naught, and 
at the end of fifty-two days of hard work the wall was built, and the people celebrated 
it with a great festival. Ezra, the scribe, read the book of the law to them, and they 
mourned because they had forgotten God's laws, and promised to keep them. 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



i59 




was 
Mordecai, 



'7"i r.CY ; ''id 

kingdom should be brought 

choose the one he liked best 

Now there 

a Jew named 

who had 



Esther. 

There was a king of Per- 
sia named Ahasuerus, who made 
a great feast for all his princes. 
On the seventh day of the 
feast, when the king had drunk 
a great deal of wine, he sent 
for his queen, Vashti, to come 
and show herself to the peo- 
ple, for she was very beautiful. 
But Vashti would not come. 
Then the king was very an- 
gry, and he said that Vashti 
should be queen no more. After 
a time he gave orders that all 
the beautiful young girls in his 
to his palace, that he might 
for his queen. 



an orphan cousin, whom he was bringing 
up. She, too, was taken to the king's 
palace, and when the king saw her he 
loved her, and chose her to be queen. 
Mordecai had told her not to tell any of 
her friends when she went to the palace, 
and as the king changed her Jewish name 
of Hadassah to the Persian name, Esther, 
no one knew that the new queen was a 
Jewess. But after Esther was made queen 
Mordecai went every day and sat in the 
gate of the palace, that he might know 
how Esther was getting on. And one day 
as he sat there he heard two of the king's 
servants plotting against the king, and he 
told Esther of it, and she warned the king, 
and the whole plot was defeated. 

Now the king had a great favorite, 
named Hainan, and every one bowed 
down to him when he passed through the 




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THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



gate of the palace. But Mor- 
decai would not bow to Ha- 
inan, for he belonged to a peo- 
ple that always hated the 
Jews, and Ha man resolved to 
revenge himself on Mordecai 
by killing all the Jews in the 
entire kingdom. 

So he told the king that 
there were some people in his 
kingdom who kept other laws 
than those of the country, and 
as that was unsafe they ought 
all to be killed. And the king 
told him he might do as he 
pleased about it. Then Ha- 
inan gave orders that on a cer- 
tain day all the Jews in the 
kingdom should be killed. 

When the Jews heard this 

there was great mourning, and 

Mordecai came and told Esther 

that she must go and beg- the 

king not to permit it. But Esther said that there was a law 

that any one who went to the king without being sent for 

must be put to death, unless the king should hold out his 

golden sceptre : and that she had not been sent for to the king 

for a whole month. 

But Mordecai told her that she ought to do this, even if 
there was danger, and that perhaps God had made her queen 
'for this very reason, that she might save her people. 

Then Esther told Mordecai to call all the Jews together, to 
fast and pray for her three days, and she and her maidens would 
fast and pray three days, and then she would go to the king, and 
perish or not, as God willed. 

When the three days' fast was over Esther put on her royal robes and went to 
the king, and when the king saw her he held out the sceptre. Then Esther drew 
near and touched the top of the sceptre, and the king asked her what she wanted. 
Esther did not say what she wanted: she only asked the king if he would come to a 
banquet that she had prepared, and bring Haman. So the king sent for Haman, and 
they went to the banquet ; but Esther did not make her request then : she asked the 
king and Haman to come again the next day, and she would make her request. 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



161 




Haman was very proud of 
being asked twice to the queen's 
banquet, and he went home and 
boasted of it to his friends. Yet 
he said all this was nothing, so 
long as he saw Mordecai the 
Jew sitting at the king's gate. 
Then Haman's wife advised him 
to have a high gallows made 
that night, and the next day to 
ask the king to have Mordecai 
hanged on it : then he could go 
merrily to the banquet. And 
this pleased Hainan, and he had 
a gallows made seventy-five feet 
high. 

Now that night the king 
could not sleep, and he called 
for some one to come and read 
to him, and they read in the book of Chronicles of the king- 
dom how Mordecai had saved the king's life by warning him 
of the plot against him. Then the king asked, "What honor 
has been done to Mordecai for this?" and they told him that 
nothing had been done for him. Then the king said, "Who 
is there in the court?" Now Hainan had come as early as pos- 
sible, to ask the king to have Mordecai hanged. So they said, "Hainan is in the court." 
And the king gave orders to call him, and 
when he came in the king said, "What 
shall be done to the man whom the king 
delights to honor?" 

Now Hainan thought that there was 
no man whom the king would like to honor 
so much as himself, and he answered, "Let 
him be clothed in royal apparel and set 
upon the king's horse, and the king's crown 
on his head, and let one of the most noble 
princes lead him through the city and pro- 
claim, ' Thus shall it be done to the man 
whom the king: delights to honor.' " 

Then the king said, "Make haste and 
do so to Mordecai the Jew." Hainan 
dared not disobey the king : but when he 
21 




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162 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 




had led Mordecai in triumph through the 

streets he went home very much cast 

down. 

When the time carne for the banquet 

Haman went in with the king, and after 

they had eaten, the king asked Esther 

what her request was. 

Then Esther said that she asked for 

her life and for the lives of all her people, 

for they were all going to be destroyed. 

And the king was very angry, and asked 

who would dare do such a thing. And 

Esther replied that it was Haman who 

was going to do it. Then the king was so 

angry that he rose up from the table and 

went out into the garden to collect him- 
self, and Haman fell down on his knees 

before the conch on which Esther reclined 

at table. But the king, coming in, gave 

orders to have him seized and put to 

death. And some one told him of the gallows which Haman had built for Mordecai, 

and the king said, "Hang him thereon." So they hanged Haman on the gallows 

that he had prepared for Mordecai. And the Jewish people were saved from death, 

and Mordecai was put in Hainan's place in the kingdom. 

Then Mordecai sent messengers 
through all the kingdom to bid the 
Jews celebrate their deliverance by a 
joyful feast. From that time even to 
the present day the Jews every year 
keep two days of "feasting and joy, 
and sending portions one to another 
and of gifts to the poor," in memory 
of this great deliverance. Very devout 
Jews keep also a fast on the day be- 
fore this feast, in memory of Esther's 
fast, and on the morning of the first 
feast-day they all go to the synagogue 
and have a solemn service. These 
yearly feasts are like the links of a 
long chain, that run back to the very 
event they celebrate, and prove that 
it really occurred. 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



163 



Thr Gosprls. 

More than four hundred years 

had passed away since the Jews 

returned from their captivity, and 

they were looking for the promise 

of God to be kept, and for the Sa- 
viour to be born whom God had 

promised to Eve in Eden and whom 

the prophets had prophesied about. 
One day the people were all 

gathered in the temple courts at 

Jerusalem. It was the hour of the 

daily sacrifice, when a priest al- 
ways went into the Holy Place to 

burn incense upon the altar, while 

all the people were praying to God 

outside. The priest who went into 

the Holy Place on this day was a 

very good man, named Zacharias. 

He was very old, and he had never 

had a child, though he had often 

prayed for one. While he was 

standing before the altar burning incense, an angel appeared to him, and told him that 

his prayer was heard, and his wife 
Elisabeth should have a son, called 
John, who should be very great in 
the sight of the Lord, and who 
should prepare the way for the Sa- 
viour. Zacharias could not believe 
such good news, and the angel told 
him that he should be dumb and 
not able to speak until his little son 
was born. 

The people wondered what kept 
Zacharias in the temple so long, and 
they wondered still more when he 

ill i. ' |t§| iU K^ V~^ came out and could not speak. 

As soon as the two weeks of his 
duty in the temple were over he has- 
tened home to his wife. He could 





164 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



not speak to her, but he could write ; and no doubt he told her of all that had hap- 
pened, and the good news that they were to have a son. 

Not long after this the angel was again sent down to this world with good news. 
There was a very good young woman named Mary, who lived in a village called Nazareth, 
in Galilee, the northern part of Palestine. One day as she was praying, a bright angel 
appeared to her and said, "Hail, thou that art highly favored, the 
Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women!" Mary was Jl 

startled at the sight of the angel and at his words, but the angel \ ,' , 
told her not to fear, for God was pleased with her, and she was 
to be the mother of a son, called Jesus, who would be the Saviour 
of the world. 

When Mary heard this she said, "Behold the handmaid 
of the L/Ord; be it unto me according to thy word," for she 
loved God and wished his will to be done. And to be the 
mother of the Messiah, or promised Sa- 
viour, was an honor for which every Jewish 
woman longed. 

When the angel was gone 
Mary set out to go and see her 
cousin Elisabeth, for the wife of 
Zacharias was Mary's cousin. 
Elisabeth lived a long way off, 
but the angel had told Mary that 
Elisabeth was also to have a son, 
who was to be a great prophet, 
and was to prepare the way for 
the Saviour in the hearts of the 
people, and Mary wanted very 
much to talk over all these won- 
derful things with her. 

It was a long journey from Nazareth in Galilee to the hill country of Judsea, where 
Zacharias and Elisabeth lived, and Mary probably had to walk all the way, for there 
was no other way to travel in those days, except to ride upon an ass, and Mary was 
a poor young woman and probably had no means of riding. But she had so much 
to think of that the way did not seem lone to her. It was such a wonderful thin? that 
she should have been chosen to be the mother of the Lord ! All the promises of God 
which she had read in the Old Testament, all that the prophets had prophesied and 
that the psalmists had sung about the Messiah, the Anointed One, who was to come 
to save his people, must have crowded into her mind and have kept her thoughts very 
busy. And how often she must have lifted her heart in prayer to God for grace to 
be a true mother to the Holy Child who was to come. So she hardly felt the weariness 
of the journey as she hastened to see her cousin Elisabeth. 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



165 




When she reached the home of her cousin, Elisabeth broke out into loud thanks- 
giving, and blessed Mary, for she knew that Mary would be the mother of the Saviour. 
Then Mary sang a beautiful hymn : very much such a hymn as Hannah had sung 
when little Samuel was born, but more joyful, because she could foresee something of 
the blessing which was coming into the world by the son whom God was going to give 
her. 

Mary stayed three months with Elisabeth, and they talked much together, no 
doubt, of the children whom God had promised them, and of the blessing which would 
come to the world through them. 

Not long after Mary had gone back to her home Elisabeth had a little boy. The 
neighbors and friends came together and wanted to name it Zacharias, after his father ; 
but the mother said it must be called John. Then they made signs to his father to ask 
how he should be called, and the father wrote, "His name is John." And as soon 
as he had written this he was able to speak, and he sang a song of praise to God. 

And the child grew up to be a man, and when he was grown he went and lived 



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THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



alone by himself in the desert thinking of God and praying to him and being taught 
by his Holy Spirit. 

Now Mary was engaged to be married to a good man named Joseph, and. after she 
came back from her visit to Elisabeth, Joseph took her to be his wife. Not long after 
that he was obliged to go to Bethlehem, the city of David, which is not far from 
Jerusalem, and he took Mary with him. When they came to Bethlehem they found 
the town very crowded, and there was no room for them in the place where travellers 
used to stay. There were no hotels in those days, only a long, low, empty building 
near the entrance of the towns for travellers to stop in. As even this place was full, 
Joseph and Mary made a place for themselves in a sort of cave, where the asses and 
camels were kept. And while they were there God sent Mary her little son : and 
when she had put on him the wrappings that babies wore in those days, she laid him 
in a manger. 

On the hillside near Bethlehem that night, some shepherds were watching their 

flocks. And all at once an angel 
came to them, and all the place was 
light about them. This frightened 
them very much, but the angel told 
them not to fear, for he brought joy- 
ful news to them and to everybody, 
for a Saviour had been born that 
night in Bethlehem, and they would 
find him lying in a manger. 

And suddenly the whole sky 
was full of angels, and they sang, 
saying, " Glory to God in the high- 
est, and on earth peace, good will 
towards men." 

When the angels had gone back 

to heaven the shepherds left their 

sheep and hastened to Bethlehem. And there, just as 

the angels had said, they found a little new-born babe 

lying in the manger. And they praised God, and gave 

thanks to him for sending a Saviour. . And when they had gone away they told 

everybody of the wonderful thing that had happened. And every one wondered at 

what the shepherds told them. 

At this time nearly all the Jews were expecting that their Messiah, or Saviour, 
would come to them before long, and the shepherds' strange story must have made 
them wonder if this were not he. But they were not looking for one who would save 
them from sin, but for one who would save them from their enemies, and be their king 
and rule over them and fight their battles, as David had done. And so they could not 
believe that this baby, who had come so humbly into the world, without even a home 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



167 




of his own, or a cradle in which he could be rocked to sleep, could be the great 
prince for whom they were looking. So after a few days of talk and wonder they 
forgot it all. But Mary remembered all these things and thought about them very 
much in her heart. 



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THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 




The baby whom God had thus sent to Mary was named Jesus, for Jesus means 
Saviour, and the angel had told Mary to give it that name. When Jesus was six weeks 
old Mary and Joseph carried him up to Jerusalem, to present him before the high-priest, 
for it was the law that every first-born son should be presented in the temple. They 
took a pair of turtle-doves with them for an offering, for they were too poor to offer a 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



169 



lamb. And so they went up to Jerusalem, Mary probably riding upon an ass, with 
the baby in her arms, and Joseph walking beside them ; and they carried the child 
Jesus into the temple and presented him before the high-priest. 




Now there was an old man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was a very holy 
man, and he spent much of his time in prayer to God. And he was all the time 
expecting to see the Saviour, for God had told him, in his heart, that he should not 
die until he had seen the Lord's Anointed. While Joseph and Mary and the child 
Jesus were in the temple, the Spirit of God moved him to go there also. Then when 
he saw the little child he took him up in his arms and blessed God, and said that now 
he was ready to die, because he had seen the salvation of God. 

Joseph and Mary wondered to hear him, and then Simeon blessed Mary too, and 
told her that her child would be the Saviour of many, but that he would have many 
trials, and that a sword would pierce through her heart too. Up to that time, proba- 
22 



iyo 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



bly, Mary had not dreamed that her sou's life was to be a life of sorrows. She did 
not yet understand what it meant to save a wicked world from sin. 

How many, many mothers had brought their little ones up to present them to God 
in the long years since God had said that some day a child should be born who would 

grow up to do wonderful works 
and destroy the power of Satan ! 
And how many of these mothers 
had hoped perhaps it might be 
their little child who was to be 
chosen by God for this great 
work! But now Mary did not 
need to wish for such a thing, 
for God had said it surely should 
be this one, and there had been 
many signs to show that he was 
the "wonderful" child. And 
God was going to show by more 
strange things what would come 
to pass. He was going to open 
the eyes of many people to see 
in this little babe the Saviour of 
the world. Shepherds had vis- 
ited him, Simeon had blessed 
him, and now some one else was 
to proclaim him the Messiah. 

While they were still in the 
temple a very old woman came 
in. She was more than eighty 

had been a widow ever since she was a youno- 

j J & 

Hffworaan, and she spent nearly all the time in the temple, 

iwJlp praying to God. And she, too, gave thanks and blessed 

God for sending a Saviour into the world. And after 

Joseph and Mary had carried the little baby away, she went 

around among those who were longing and praying for the coming 

of the Messiah, and told them that the Saviour was born, and that 

she had seen him and had held him in her arms. 

. Joseph and Mary went back to Bethlehem after they had pre- 
sented Christ in the temple. They probably intended to live there, 
for they knew that the prophets had said that the Messiah would come out of Beth- 
lehem. It was the city of David, too, and the Messiah was very often spoken of as the 
Son of David. They therefore thought that there could be no place so good as Beth- 
lehem in which to live and bring up the child Jesus. Probably Joseph intended to 





THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



171 




find work there at his trade, for he was a 
carpenter, and they hoped to make a pleasant 
little home for themselves in time. But God 
had another plan for them. 

About this time something happened 
which set all the people in Jerusalem to 
wondering. A party of travellers came from 
a far country. They were wise and learned 
men, and probably very rich also: but it was 
not their riches nor their wisdom nor their 
learning which stirred up the people. It 
was a question which they asked. "Where," 
said they, "is he that is born king of the 
Jews? for we have seen his star in the East, 
and have come to worship him." 

Now the Jews had a king at that time 
named Herod, a very bad man, who had done 
many dreadful deeds. He was not a Jew, but an Idumean, or descendant of Esau, and he 
was reigning over them under the authority of the Roman emperor. And when Herod 
heard what the wise men said, he was troubled, for he did not want any one but himself 
to be king; and all the people in Jerusalem were troubled too, for Herod had done so 
many horrible things already, killing everybody, even his own sons, when they came 
between him and his own wishes, that everybody feared that he would do some fearful 
deed, if it were really true that the Messiah had been born. 

Herod knew that it was from the Bible — that is, the Old Testament, which was 
all of the Bible which had yet been written — that the people had got their belief 
that the Messiah was coming, and that all that could be known about him was to 
be learned from that book. So he sent for the priests and the scribes, whose business 
it was to know the Bible well, and he asked them what the Bible said as to where 
the Christ, the Lord's Anointed one, should be born. They told him that the prophets 
had foretold that he would be born in Bethlehem. So Herod sent for the wise men, 
and told them to go to Bethlehem and look for the child, and when they had found him 
to bring him word, that he might go and worship him too. But Herod did not really 
mean to worship the child Jesus; he meant to kill him. 

Then the wise men set out, and behold ! the star which they had seen when in the 
East showed itself again, and it went before them till it stood over the place where 
the young child was. Then the wise men rejoiced with exceeding great joy, and 
they went in, and saw the child and his mother, and they fell down and worshipped 
him, and gave him rich gifts of gold and incense and myrrh. But they did not go back 
and tell Herod where the child Jesus was, for God warned them in a dream not to do so, 
and they went back to their own country by another way. 

When they were gone, an angel came and spoke to Joseph in a dream, and told him 



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to get up and take the young child and his mother and go to Egypt, for Herod would 
try to kill the child. Then Joseph got up, and took the young child and his mother, 
while it was still night, and set out to go to Egypt. 

When Herod found that the wise men were not coming back to tell him where 
the new-born king of the Jews was to be found he was very angry, and he sent his 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



*73 



soldiers to Bethlehem and told them to kill every boy-child of two years old or under 
whom they could find in the town. For in that way, he thought, he would surely kill 
Jesus. He did not know that Jesus and his mother were far on their way towards Egypt. 
It was not long after this that Herod died, and as soon as the news of his death 
came to Egypt Joseph set out to take Mary and Jesus back to Palestine. It was again 
his wish to live in Bethlehem. But God told him in a dream not to eo to Bethlehem, 
and he therefore went on to his old home in Nazareth, which was in the northern part of 
Palestine called Galilee. 

There Jesus lived quietly with his parents, who were working people, but wise 
and good, as we know. When Jesus was twelve years old his parents took him up 
to Jerusalem to the feast of the Passover: for after boys were twelve years old they were 
expected to go at least once in three years. They went up on foot, though perhaps 
Mary rode on an ass, and a great company of their neighbors went too; and as they 
went along they were joined by people from the towns through which they passed, all 
going up to the feast, until at last they were a very large party. 

When the feast was over, they all set out for home together. Joseph and Mary did 

not see Jesus when they started, 
but they thought he was with some 
of their friends, until night came 
and they camped for rest; then Jesus 
was not to be found. Very much 
troubled, Mary and Joseph turned 
hack as soon as it was day, and 
reached Jerusalem that night, but 
without hearing anything of their 
boy on the way. But the next day 
they found him. He was in the 
temple, sitting among the wise men 
and teachers of the law, or Rabbis, 
listening to their talk and asking 
them questions. And every one who 
heard him was surprised at the ques- 
tions he asked. 

When his mother saw him she 

reproved him gently, saying that 

Joseph and she had been looking 

for him in sorrow. But he said, "Why did you look 

..-^tSS f or me ? Did you not know that I would be in my Father's house, 

" and thinking about him?" By his Father he meant God, for Joseph 

was not his real father, although he called him so. But he went back with his mother 

and Joseph to Nazareth, and lived there, obedient to them, till he was thirty years old. 

And Mary remembered all these things and thought much about them. 




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While Jesus was grow- 
ing thus to manhood, in 
his humble home at Naz- 
areth, surrounded by the 
brothers and sisters who 
had been born to his pa- 
rents after their return 
from Hgypt, John, that 
cousin of Jesus who had 
been born a few months 
before him, was living in 
the desert. But when he 
was thirty years old he 
came out of the desert 
and began to call to the 
people, "Prepare ye the 

way of the Lord; make his paths straight !" By this he meant that the Christ, the 

Saviour, was coming, and that people should get ready to receive him. 

Now John did not dress like other men: he wore a rough hair-cloth garment and a 

leather girdle, or belt, and he ate locusts and wild honey such as he had lived on 

in the wilderness. When he appeared thus suddenly out of the desert, crying, 

"Prepare ye the way of the Lord!" the people went out in crowds to see and hear 

what sort of a man he was. Then he preached to them, saying, "Repent, for the 

kingdom of heaven is at hand." And when the people heard him preach, a great 

many of them were sorry for their sins; and when John saw that they had repented, 

he baptized 

them in the 

river Jordan, 

near which he 

was preaching. 

And the people 

flocked more 

and more to 

hear him: the 

rich and the 

poor, the sol- 
diers and the 

teachers of the 

law, all sorts of 

men and women 

came and were 

baptized. 




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i75 



When Jesus heard that John was preaching and baptizing at the Jordan, he left his 
home in Nazareth and went to John, and asked him to baptize him. At first John 
refused, for he said that he needed to be baptized by Jesus, rather than Jesus by him, 
for that Jesus was holier than he. But Jesus asked him again to baptize him, and 
John did so. And when Jesus was baptized, behold, the skies opened, and the Spirit 
of God came down like a dove and rested on his head, and a voice from heaven said, 
"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Thus was Jesus anointed 
to be the Christ, the Saviour of the world. John had not known before that Jesus 
was to be the Saviour, although he knew 
how very good he was; but when he saw 
the Spirit descend upon him he knew and 
bore witness that Jesus was the Son of 
God. 

Then the Spirit bade Jesus go away 
into the wilderness; and for forty days he 
stayed alone in the wilderness, amid the 
wild beasts, struggling against the temp- 
tations of the devil. But he did not yield 
to any of them; and at last the devil left 
him, and angels came and ministered to 
him. 

When he came out of the wilderness, 
at the end of that dreadful time, he went 
back to the Jordan, where John was. And 
when John saw him he said, "Behold the 
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin 
of the world !" There were two men of 
those who heard him who had been the 
disciples, or pupils and followers, of John. 
When they heard John speak thus they 
went and joined themselves to Jesus. 
Their names were Andrew and John. 
Andrew soon went and brought his 

brother, Simon Peter, to Jesus, and perhaps John brought his brother, James. And 
two other men, Philip and Nathanael, also came to be with Jesus, to be his disciples 
and learn of him. They all went back to Galilee together. 

But when the time for the next Passover came, Jesus and his disciples went up 
to Jerusalem. And while he was there he said and did many things which were enough 
to show the rulers of the people, the scribes and Pharisees, that he was indeed the 
Saviour; but they did not believe in him, for he was not such a Saviour as they were 
hoping for. Alas, they needed a Redeemer who could save them from their sins, far 
more than a king who could free them from the Roman yoke. They were a proud- 




1 



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spirited race. They remembered the heroic deeds of their fathers, and the many- 
wonders God had wrought in their behalf in ages past; and they flattered themselves 
that they were still his favorite people and he would deliver them. "We are Abra- 
ham's seed," they said, but they added, "we were never in bondage to any man" — 
which was not true at all: the nation had often been in bondage to other nations, and 
was now subject to the Romans. And worse still, Christ told them that they were the 
slaves of sin, and that is the most terrible slavery of all. They had forfeited the favor 
of God, and were fast filling up the measure of their iniquities; their fathers had refused 
to heed the prophets whom God had sent to warn and entreat them, and now they were 
bent on rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ, their own promised Messiah. He came unto 

his own, and they received him not. They 
would even crucify him, and in a few years 
their city would be destroyed. 

But there was one ruler, named Nico- 
demus, who was struck by what Jesus said 
and did, and he came to Jesus by night 
and asked him many questions. And Je- 
sus told him that unless a man was born 
again, that is, received a new nature from 
God, he could not see the kingdom of 
God. Nicodemus could not understand 
Jesus at first, although he was himself a 
teacher of the law of God, but he finally 
believed from what Christ said that He 
was indeed the Saviour; yet he dared not 
say so openly, for he was not brave. He 
was the secret disciple of Jesus from this 
time, but as he dared not openly join him- 
self to him, he missed what the other dis- 
ciples had. That is, he missed the con- 
stant love and teaching of his Master; he 
had not the happiness of living always 
with him and hearing him talk and see- 
ing his wondrous works. 
Now when the time came for Jesus to go back to Galilee with his disciples, they 
decided to go by way of Samaria, which was the nearest way. People did not often 
travel from Galilee to Judaea by way of Samaria, for the Samaritans and the Jews had 
long hated each other. Ever since that time, hundreds of years before, when the Jews 
had come back from captivity, there had been ill-will between them : so that the Jews 
never went through Samaria if they could help it, and they would never ask any favors 
of Samaritans nor have anything to say to them. But Jesus had a reason for going. 
As they went on their journey they came to the city of Shechem, and Jesus, being 




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177 




weary with his journey, sat down beside the well which was outside the city, while his 
disciples went to buy food. Presently a woman came to draw water, and Jesus asked 
her to give him to drink. The woman was surprised at this, for she saw that he was 
a Jew, But Jesus talked with her, and told her such high and holy things that she 



i 7 8 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



felt that he must be a prophet — perhaps even the Christ — and she went and called the 
people of the city to come and hear him. And they came, and begged him to go into 
their city and teach them; and very many of the people believed on him. 

Then Jesus and his disciples went on to Galilee, and the disciples went back to 
their homes and their work, for they were poor working men. For a time Jesus went 
around alone, preaching the good news of the kingdom of God. But after a time he 
came back to the towns beside the Sea of Galilee, where his disciples lived, and found 
James and John and Andrew and Peter fishing. Jesus asked Peter and Andrew to 
take him into their boat, and he sat down and taught the people out of the boat, for 
they all flocked upon the shore to hear him. And after he had taught them, he told 




Peter to row out into deep water and let down his nets. Peter said that they had been 
toiling; all nio-ht and had caught nothing: still he did as Jesus bade. And when he 
had done so, the net was filled with fish, so many that they could not lift it up. Then 
Peter and the others were frightened, for they knew that this was a miracle, that is, 
something that can only be clone by the power of God. But Jesus said, "Follow me, 
and I will make you fishers of men." And they forsook their boats and followed 
Jesus, and from that time they never left him. And Jesus went about through all the 
country, preaching the good news of the kingdom of heaven, and the people brought 
their sick folk, and the blind and lame and crippled, to him, and-he healed them all. 



i8o 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 




At one time the people who had come to Jesus were so many that he went up on 
a little hill where he could see them all, and there he taught them. He began this 
"Sermon on the Mount" with the words which every little child knows, " Blessed are 
the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



1S1 



for they shall be comforted." And then he went on and taught them what he wanted 
his disciples to be, how they must forgive their enemies, and be kind to every one 
and willing to do good. He taught them, also, that God, their Father in heaven, 
took care of them and watched over them, and he taught them the Lord's Prayer 
that we all say every day of our lives. The people loved to listen to him, for he was 
kind and gracious and loving, and he spoke, too, as one who had a right to teach 
them and to be obeyed. 

Not long after this, as Jesus and his disciples were going from one place to another, 
they came near to the gates of a city called Nain. As they drew near they saw a 




procession of people coming out of the gate. It was the funeral of a young man, who 
was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. The young man's body was 
lying on an open bier, or litter, for people were not buried in coffins in those days. 
Beside the bier walked the poor mother, weeping, for the only person she had to love 



182 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



lay there. Then Jesus drew near to her and said to her gently, "Weep not." She 
did not know why a stranger should speak to her thus; but the next moment she knew, 
for Jesus touched the bier and said, "Young man, I say unto thee arise !" And he 
that was dead sat up and began to speak. Ah ! then the mother's tears ceased to 
flow, and her heart was filled with joy and wonder, for her dear son was alive again. 

Now the people crowded around 
him more than ever, for they were 
sure that one who could raise the 
dead must be a person unlike other 
men. But the scribes and Pharisees 
were jealous of him, and would not 
believe that he was the Son of God. 
And they tried to catch him saying 
or doing something that he ought 
not to do or say, but they could not. 
Jesus only went about doing good 
and teaching good things, and never 
doing anything wrong. 

One day while he was preach- 
ing, his mother and his brothers 
came and tried to get near him, 
but they could not get through the 
crowd. Some one told Jesus that 
his mother and his brothers wanted 
to see him. And Jesus, who made 
everything serve him to teach some 
good thing, looked around on the crowd of people and said, "Do you want to know 
who my mother and brothers are? Every one who does the will of my Father who 
is in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." Jesus loved his own mother and 
brothers very much, but he loves every one of us, who try to please God, as if we 
were his mother or sister or brother. 

Before this Jesus had chosen other men, besides James and John and Andrew and 
Peter, to be with him as his special friends and disciples and to learn of him. 
There were twelve of them, and when he called them they left 'their homes and their 
work and lived always with Jesus, learning of him and seeing his mighty works. 
They travelled up and down the land, and Jesus everywhere taught the people and 
healed them. Many a time he had not where to lay his head, and he was often kept 
so busy by the people who crowded around him for his help, that he had not even 
time to pray to God. But at such times he would go away by himself, at night, and 
spend the whole night somewhere in the woods or on the hills, praying to his Father. 
And there were some very good women who used to provide things for him at times, 
and who did all that they could to make him comfortable, for they loved him very much. 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



183 




Jesus spent much of 
his time in Capernaum 
and other cities that were 
around the Sea of Gali- 
lee. It is a beautiful lake 
among the hills of Gali- 
lee, and many of the most 
beautiful stories that we 
have of what Christ did 
and said are what he did 
and said on the Sea of 
Galilee. Often when the 
people crowded around 
him to hear him, he 
would get into a boat 
and put out a little way, 
so that he could see them better ; and then he would teach them there. One day 
he did so, and from his place in the boat he told a number of beautiful parables. 
A parable is a story which is meant to teach some truth or some duty, that is, some- 
thing that we ought to know or something that we ought to do. 

Jesus began by telling a beautiful parable about a sower who went out to sow, 
and some seed fell by the wayside, where the birds came and ate it, and some fell 
on stony places, where there was not much earth and it could not grow, and some 
fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked it, and some fell on good 
ground and bore fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundred times as much as was sowed. 

Jesus told many such stories, and afterwards his disciples asked him what they 
meant, and he told them. The sower sowing the seed was a preacher preaching about 
God. Some people pay no attention, and the seed does not grow any more than if 
the birds had eaten it. And some have hard hearts like the stony ground, and some 
are full of other thoughts that crowd good thoughts out, like thorns, and some receive 
the word gladly, and it brings forth good fruit in their lives. It is so in the house 
of God now every Sunday. How many 
hard, proud, fault-finding hearts are there 
that get no good ! How many thoughts 
about business or pleasure, like little birds, 
steal all the good seed ! Let us see how 
much we can carry home and be the better 
for it. Christ himself is there, speaking to 
us in his Word, and by his Holy Spirit in 
our hearts, though we do not see him. If 
we answer with loving penitence and faith, 
he will remember it in the judgment-day. 




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THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 




Another parable was about a man who sowed good seed in his field, but in the 
night while he was asleep his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat. Now 
tares look like wheat when they are growing, but they are of no use and only keep 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



i85 



the good seed from growing. When the seed began to grow it was seen that there 
were tares among the wheat, and the man's servants came and asked if they should 
pull them up. But their master said "No," for they might also pull up the wheat, 
as both looked so much alike. So he said that both must grow together till the 
harvest, and then they could be told apart, and the tares could be pulled up and 
burned, but the wheat would be gathered into the barn. 

The parable of the tares meant that we cannot always tell good people from bad 
in this life, and we ought not to try to judge them: but in the last day God will know, 
and will punish the wicked and gather the good people into heaven. 

After Jesus had done talking to the people he asked his disciples to row him across 
the lake, for he had had a very busy day and wanted to go to some quiet place and 
rest. While they were rowing him he lay down in the stern of a boat with iris head 




•on a leathern cushion, such as rowers used to sit on, and fell fast asleep, for he was very 
tired. And there came up a terrible storm, such as often comes up on the Lake of 
Galilee, almost a tornado or cyclone. The disciples were terrified, for the wind blew 
so hard, and the waves ran so high, that the boat was almost filled with water, and 
they thought they were going to be swamped. Then they rushed to Jesus and cried, 
"Master, master, we perish!" Then Jesus awoke, and stood up in the boat, and 
spoke to the winds and to the waves and said, "Peace, be still!" And the wind 
died awav, and the waves went down, and there was a great calm. 
24 



1 86 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 




But the disciples were full of awe. They had seen their Master do many mighty- 
works, but never anything like this. And they said to one another, "What manner 
of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?" 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



187 




When Jesus and his disciples came back the next day to Capernaum, where they 
lived, a certain ruler named Jairus came to meet him, and bowed down before him 
and begged him to go home with him to heal his little daughter, for she was his only 
child, and she was dying. Jesus went with him at once, and the disciples followed. 
When they reached the house Jesus went into the room where the young girl lay. 
He would let no one go in with him except the father and mother, and Peter, James, 
and John. And he went up to the bed and took the little girl by the hand, and 
said, "Damsel, I say unto thee arise!" And the little girl sat up: and he gave her 
to her mother and told her to give her daughter something to eat, for she was quite 
-well. 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



Now for a long time John the Baptist had been lying in prison in a strong castle 
in the region east of Palestine. For Herod the king — the son of the Herod who had 
killed the babes in Bethlehem — had sent for John to hear him, and John had reproved 
Herod for his sins; for Herod was a very wicked man, and he had taken his brother's 
wife, Herodias, away from him and made her his own wife. So Herod shut him in 
prison, and he would have killed him but he dared not, for the people admired John 
so much that they would have made trouble. 

But when Herod's birthday came he made a feast, and the daughter of Herodias. 

came and danced before him and 

m 



pleased him very much, so that he 
told her with an oath that he 
would give her anything that she 
would ask. The girl asked her 
mother what she should ask for, 
and Herodias, who was a wicked 
woman, told her to ask for the 
head of John the Baptist on a 
charger, or tray : for she hated 
John because he had said that she 
ought not to have left her hus- 
band and gone to live with Herod. 
When the young girl asked 
for the head of John the Baptist 
Herod was sorry; but he had not 
the courage to say no, because the 
people who were feasting with him 
had heard him make the oath. And so he sent and had John the Baptist's head cut 
off, and it was brought to the young girl on a tray, as she had asked, and she gave it 
to her mother. Wicked people often gratify their evil passions in this world, but they 
only add to their guilt and their suffering in the world to come. 

When John's disciples heard of his death they went and buried his body, and 
then departed and told Jesus the sad news. "Let us go apart into a desert place," he 
said to his disciples, "and rest a while." But the people would not let him rest. 
They followed him in great crowds, and so Jesus began again td preach to them and to 
heal their sick, as he always did. 

But when night came he could not bear to send them away without anything to 
eat, for they had been in that desert place all day, and had far to go to get home. He 
spoke to his disciples and said, "Give ye them to eat." They answered that they 
had only five loaves and two fishes, which a little boy had brought them; and as 
there were about five thousand men there, besides women and children, that little 
would be of no use. But Jesus told them to make the people sit down in little groups 
on the green grass : and he took the five loaves and two fishes and blessed them, and 




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189, 




broke them m pieces and gave the pieces to the disciples, and the disciples crave 
them to the people, and there was enough for all. And when the people had eaten 
they gathered up the pieces that were left, and they filled twelve baskets. 

Then Jesus sent all the people away, and told his disciples to get into their boat 
and go across the lake to their homes, but he himself went up into the mountain 



tfcp 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 




to pray. But the waves were high and the wind was contrary, and in the dark the 
disciples saw Jesus coming towards them walking on the water; and Peter said, "Lord, 
if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water," and Jesus said, "Come." 

So Peter got out of the boat to walk to Jesus on the water : but suddenly his 



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191 



courage failed and he lost faith 
in Jesus' word, and at once he 
began to sink. Then he cried, 
"Lord, save me!" And Jesus 
stretched out his hand and 
caught him, and said, "O thou 
of little faith, wherefore didst 
thou doubt?" And Jesus led 
him back to the boat, and all 
the disciples came and wor- 
shipped Jesus and said, "Of a 
truth thou art the Son of God. " 
Then Jesus went away with 
his disciples towards Phoenicia, 
the country of Hiram, king of 
Tyre, the friend of David and, 
Solomon. And a woman of that 
country, who had been a, 
heathen, but had heard of Je- 
ime and begged him that he would heal her daughter, for 
she was very ill and was troubled by evil spirits. 

At first Jesus did not answer the woman, for he wanted to> 
teach his disciples an important lesson. But the disciples did not 
'understand this, and they said, "Send her away, for she crieth after 
us." Then Jesus said that he was sent first to the lost sheep of the 
house of Israel, and he went into the house and sat down. But she followed, and 
fell on her knees and said, "Lord, help me!" And Jesus answered that it was 
not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. But though it must 
have been hard for her to hear herself thus compared to a dog, her love for her 
daughter, and her faith that Jesus could heal her, made her very patient, and she said,. 
"Yea, Lord, yet the dogs under the tables eat of the 
children's crumbs." It was a wise and beautiful an- 
swer; and now Jesus had shown both her and the 
disciples what he wished to teach them, and he said, 
"O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even 
as thou wilt." And when she reached home her 
daughter was well. This was the first lesson we 
know of that Jesus gave to the disciples that others 
besides the Jews had any part in the salvation which jj 
he came to bring. They were slow to learn that God 
had granted even unto the Gentiles repentance and 
salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 








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Not long after a man brought his son, who was dreadfully tormented by evil 
spirits, and he wanted him to be healed. The boy was always falling, he said, some- 
times into the fire and sometimes into the water, and no one could cure him. And 
he added, "But if thou canst do anything, have pity on us and help us." 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



i93 



Then Jesus said, " All things 
are possible to him that be- 
lieveth. " And the man cried 
out with tears, "Lord, I be- 
lieve ; help thou mine unbe- 
lief!" And Jesus spoke to the 
evil spirits that were in the 
child, and they left him and 
the boy was made well. 

After these things Jesus 
and his disciples went up to 
Jerusalem to a feast. Not far 
from Jerusalem is a village 
called Bethany, and in that 
village lived a brother and two 
sisters. Their names were Laz- 
arus and Martha and Mary. 
They invited Jesus to their 
house to stay while he was 
attending the feast, for Beth- 
any is less than two miles from 
Jerusalem. Jesus did so, and 
he loved them all very dearly 
while Jesus was there, for she w 
hear him talk, and she sat at 





Martha was anxious to have everything very nice 
anted to do him honor : but Mary wanted most of all to 
his feet and listened to his words. Jesus told Martha 
that she was a faithful worker, but 
that the most needful thing was to 
know the will of God ; and Mary 
had chosen that good part, which 
would not be taken away from 
her. 

One day a Rabbi asked Jesus 
whom he ought to treat as neigh- 
bors, and Jesus told this story. A 
man who was travelling was at- 
tacked by robbers, who took all 
he had and left him half dead. 
Before long a priest went by, and 
afterward a Levite, but they did 
nothing to help him. Then a de- 
spised Samaritan came, and when 
he saw the wounded man he bound 



O 



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up his wounds and set him on his own beast and took him to the khan, where 
travellers stop at night, and paid the khan-keeper to take care of him till he was 
well. Was not the Samaritan more of a neighbor to the poor man than the priest 
or the Levite? So our neighbor is any one who needs our help. 



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re 



V/O 




But the more Jesus taught 
the people and did them good, 
the more the rulers, the scribes 
aud Pharisees and priests, hated 
him aud tried to kill him. It 
was not time yet for Jesus to die: 
his work was not yet done: so 
he went away beyond Jordan into 
a quiet place, and there went on 
teaching his disciples. But while 
he was gone Lazarus fell ill. 
Mary and Martha sent word to 
Jesus, "Lord, he whom thou lov- 
est is sick," but before Jesus 
reached Bethany Lazarus was 
dead and buried. When Jesus 
drew near to Bethany he sent for 
Martha to come and meet him, 

and Martha fell down before him and said, " Lor-d, if thou hadst been here my brother 

had not died." Jesus told her that her brother should rise again, but she thought he 

meant that Lazarus should rise at the 

last day. She could not believe that 

Jesus could raise him then, for he had 

been dead four days. 

When Jesus went to the grave and 

saw Mary and Martha weeping, he wept 

too, for he was very tender-hearted for 

those in sorrow. But then he told the 

people to roll away the stone from the 

grave, and he called, "Lazarus, come 

forth !" And Lazarus came forth out 

of the grave, for his spirit had come 

back to his body when Jesus called him. 

The scribes and Pharisees were all the 

more anxious to kill Jesus after he raised 

Lazarus from the dead, but the poor 

people, and those who had been very 

wicked but wanted to be good, flocked 

around him all the more. And to them 

he told the story of the prodigal son, 

who had left his father's house and gone 

into a far country and spent all his 




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money in sin and folly. Finally he became so poor that all he could get to do was to 
feed swine, and even then he could not get enough to eat. Then he resolved to go 
back to his father, and tell him that he had sinned, and ask leave to be his servant. 
But while he was yet a long way from his home his father saw him coming back, and 
rushed to meet him and kissed him, and called to the servants to bring out the best robe 
for him, and shoes and ornaments, and to kill the fatted calf and have a great feast, for 
he said, " This my son was dead and is alive again." And so, Jesus said, there is joy 
in heaven when a sinner is sorry for his sin and returns to serve his Heavenly Father. 



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V. 



197 




Another parable was about a poor man named Lazarus. He lav at the ^ate of 
a nch man, and was thankful even for the crumbs that fell from the rich man's tlble 
But arter a t:me the beggar died and the angels carried him to heaveu The h 



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THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 




man died too, and went to the place of torment. By this parable Jesus taught that it 
was not riches nor learning nor anything outside of a man that makes him accepted of 
God; for God looks on the heart and sees who it is that really tries to please him. 

Another parable Jesus spoke to those who thought themselves righteous. Two men 
went into the temple to pray: one was a Pharisee and the other a publican. The 



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199 




Pharisee thanked God that he was not so bad as other men were, and repeated over 
all his good deeds. But the publican would not so much as lift up his eves, but beat his 
breast with his hands, saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" And God heard 
and answered the prayer of the publican, but he was not pleased with the Pharisee's 
prayer. 

One day a good many mothers brought their little children to Jesus, askino- him to 
bless them. The disciples wanted to send them away, but Jesus said, "Let the little 
cnildren come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God." \nd 
he took them in his arms and laid his hands on them and blessed them. 



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At another time Jesus told a parable expressly for the benefit of his disciples. It 
was about a rich man who had a large vineyard, and who went out early in the 
morning to find people to work in the vineyard. And when he found some he agreed 



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20 1 



to give them each a penny a day, which was good wages for that country at that 
time. And at nine o'clock he went out again and hired more men, saying that he 
would pay them what was right ; and so he did again at noon and at three in the 
afternoon. And at five o'clock he went out and found some men whom no one had hired 
all day long, and he told them to go and work for him and he would give them what 
was right. When six o'clock came he called those whom he had hired last and gave 
them each a penny, and the others all supposed that they were going to have more ; 
but each one got only his penny. Then they complained to the lord of the vineyard, 
because they, who had worked a whole day, had received no more than those who 
had worked only one hour. But the lord reminded them that they had received all that 
they had earned, and told them that he had a right to be generous to the others if 
he wished. By this parable our Lord taught the free grace of God in saving those 
who have not earned a right to salvation by any good deeds of theirs. 




When the time of the Feast of the Passover was at hand, Jesus and his disciples 
went back to Jerusalem, for Jesus said he must by all means keep that feast there. 
On their way they passed through Jericho, and as they drew near to the city gate 
there was a blind beggar, named Bartimeus, who, when he heard that Jesus was 
passing by, cried with a loud voice, "Thou son of David, have mercy on me!" The 
people who were around bade him be quiet, but he cried so much the more, "Have 
mercy on me!" Then Jesus stood still and told them to bring the man to him. And 
when thev had brought him Jesus asked him what he wanted. He answered, "Lord, 
26 



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THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 




that I might receive my sight!" And Jesus said, "Receive thy sight; thy faith hath 
saved thee!" And at once he received his sight and followed Jesus. 

Then Jesus went . through 
the gate of Jericho into the 
city. There was a great crowd 
of people around him : many 
of them, like him, were going 
to Jerusalem to the feast, and 
many more had flocked around 
him as soon as they heard of 
the blind man's wonderful cure. 
Now there was one man named 
Zaccheus who wanted very 
much to see Jesus, but he could 
not, for he was a little man, 
and he could not see over the heads of the crowd. So 
he ran ahead and climbed up into a tree that branched 
out over the road. 

When Jesus came under the tree he looked up and 
said, "Zaccheus, make haste and come down, for to-day 
I must abide in thy house." How joyfully the little 
man climbed down the tree! How happy he was to lead his honored guest to his house! 
Now Zaccheus was a publican, or tax-gatherer. He was, in fact, the chief of the 
publicans, and very rich : but he was hated and despised by everybody, as all publicans 
were. This was partly because publicans almost always cheated the people about 
their taxes, and partly because the taxes were for the Roman emperor, whom the Jews 
served because they must, not because they wanted to, and they hated everything that 
reminded them of his dominion over them; and now some of the people who stood close 
by and heard what Jesus said about going to Zaccheus' house, murmured and said that 
he was going to be the guest of a man that was a sinner. But Zaccheus wanted to be 
an honest man, in spite of all his temptations, and when Jesus spoke kindly to him, 
and told him that salvation had come to his house, he was most happy. How much 
he loved Tesus for bein? so gracious to him ! He told the Lord that from that time 
he would give half his goods to the poor, and if he found that he had by mistake 
wronged any man in collecting the taxes, he would give him back four times as much. 
This was a brave thing for the little man to say before all the people gathered around, 
but no doubt the kindly, earnest look in Jesus' face gave him courage. And Jesus said 
again, as he had before, that he had come to the earth to save those who had sinned and 
to help those who were tempted. 

But it was soon time to go on to Jerusalem, for Jesus had a work to do there. And 
when he was come near to Jerusalem, and had reached the turn of the road, going 
over the Mount of Olives, where the Holy City first comes into view, he wept over it. 



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203 




For our Lord loved his country, and that 

city which had once been " the joy of the 

whole earth," and he loved the Jews, 

though so many of them hated him and 

were trying, as he knew, to kill him. 

And so, thinking of all the dreadful woes 

that were to come upon Jerusalem as a 

punishment for rejecting him, he wept, 

and said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how 

often would I have gathered thee, as a hen 

gathereth her chickens under her wings, 

and ye would not!" For so our Lord 

longs to save every one, even those who 

will not come unto him and have life. Alas ! they know not what they do. 

When Jesus and his disciples were near Jerusalem, at a little village called Beth- 

phage, Jesus sent two of his disciples into the village, telling them that they would find 

an ass standing tied, at a place where two roads met, and her colt standing by her. 

Jesus bade the disciples untie the ass and bring it and the colt to him; and if the owner 

made any objection, to say, "The Lord hath need of them." For Jesus knew that the 

owner of the ass and the colt was one of those who believed on him and would be glad 

to serve him. 

Now all the multitude who had been with Jesus on his journey towards Jerusalem, 

who had heard the gracious words which he had spoken, and had seen his wonderful 

miracle of healing the blind man, were full of the thought that he must be the Messiah, 

or Anointed one, for whom the nation had so long been hoping. When therefore the 

disciples brought the ass, and taking off 
their long outer garments laid them over 
the back of the colt and set Jesus thereon, 
the whole multitude broke forth into shouts 
of praise, saying, " Hosanna ! blessed is he 
that cometh in the name of the Lord !" 
And thev stripped off" their outer robes and 
threw them down for the colt to walk 
upon, and broke off the long leaves of the 
palm trees and strewed them in the way. 

Thus, shouting and rejoicing, they 
came to Jerusalem, Jesus riding in their 
midst. And the very children crowded 
around Jesus, waving palms and shouting 
" Hosanna !" thus fulfilling a passage in the 
Psalms, "Out of the mouths of babes and 
sucklings thou hast perfected praise." 




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Then Jesus went into the temple, and he found there many men who had ani- 
mals or doves to sell for sacrifice, and money-changers, who changed the money of those 
who came to the feast from other countries. Thus that sacred and beautiful house of 
God had been turned into a house of merchandise. Then Jesus drove them out, and 
such was the majesty and dignity of his look that they could not but obey him and 
hasten away. 

The rulers hated him for his goodness, and they tried to find an excuse for arresting 
him. So they asked him if it was right to pay tribute to Csesar, the emperor, when 



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20.S 




God was their King, thinking thus to get him into trouble. But Jesus asked them to 
tell him whose was that head with which the coin paid in tribute was stamped. When 
they answered, "Caesar's," he bade them "Render unto Caesar the things that are 
Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." 



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THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 




One day as he was teaching in the temple, and the rich men were bringing their 
gifts to the treasury, a poor widow came and threw in two lepta, coins worth about one- 
twelfth of a cent. And Jesus said that she had given more than all the rich men, for 
she had given all that she had. For the love and self-denial of that poor widow were 
worth more to God than all the proud gifts of the rich. 



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207 




It was only six days before the 
Passover that Jesus had come to 
Jerusalem, and every evening dur- 
ing that week, after passing the 
day in the temple teaching the 
people, he went out to Bethany 
and spent the night with his dear 
friends, Martha and Mary and Laz- 
arus. On one of these evenings 
they made a feast for him, for they 
loved to do him honor. Then, 
while they were all at table, Jesus 
and his friends reclining upon 
couches, as was the custom of that 

time, and Martha waiting upon them, like the good housekeeper that she was, Mary 
came softly behind Jesus, bringing a beautiful alabaster vase of very costly oil of 
spikenard, such as only rich people used, and poured the fragrant oil over the head and 
over the feet of Jesus, wiping his feet with her long, soft hair. The whole house was 
filled with the sweet odor, which testified of Mary's deep love for her Lord. But Judas, 
one of the disciples, murmured, saying that the ointment might have been sold for 
a great deal of money and given to the poor. Yet Judas did not love the poor so 
much as his words seemed to show : but it was his duty to take care of the purse 
in which Jesus and his disciples kept all their money in common, and though he was 
one of the disciples of Jesus, he had an inordinate love of money, and was even 
willing to do wrong for the sake of it. 

When Jesus heard what Judas said, he answered that Mary had done a good thing 
in thus showing her deep love, and he added that wherever the gospel should be preached 
in all the world, it would be told how Mary had anointed her Saviour's feet with costly 
ointment. 

But Judas grew more covetous every day, and as he knew that the chief priests and 
rulers were trying to arrest Jesus, he went to them and bargained to betray Jesus into 
their power if they would pay him thirty pieces of silver. Perhaps Judas did not realize 
how awful a crime he was committing. He had seen Jesus do so many miracles that 
he probably thought He would save himself, and that no harm would come of it, and 
that he himself would be the gainer by thirty pieces of silver. But his sin was none 
the less dreadful because he was so blinded by love of money as not to realize what 
he was doing. 

At last the night came on which Jesus was to be betrayed to death. It was the 
night of the Passover, and he would keep that last sacred feast with his disciples. So 
he sent two of them to Jerusalem to make ready the Passover, and when evening came 
he and all the twelve gathered together in an upper chamber for the feast. But 
first, that he might teach them in this last solemn hour that lesson so hard to learn, 



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THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



that only he who serves mankind is wor- 
thy of honor, he laid aside his upper 
garment, and fastened a towel, around 
his waist, and pouring water into a basin 
he began to wash his disciples' feet. Si- 
mon Peter was shocked at the thought 
of his doing such a thing, but Jesus told 
him, "What I do thou knowest not now, 
but thou shalt know hereafter." And 
when he had finished and had sat down 
again among them, he explained to them 
that if he, their Lord and Master, was 
willing to wash their feet, they ought to 
be willing to do anything for one an- 
other; and he taught them that the great- 
est man is he who does most for others. 

Then they gathered around the ta- 
ble, Jesus in the midst of his friends. 
But he knew that one among them was 
not his friend, and his heart grew very 
heavy, and at last he said, "One of you 
will betray me." The eleven heard him 
with horror and grief, and each ex- 
claimed, "Lord, is it I?" and even Judas 
said, "Lord, is it I?" Now John, the disciple whom Jesus loved best, was next to 
Jesus at the table, and Peter whispered to John to ask Jesus who it was; Jesus answered 





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209 



that it was the one to whom he would give a sop, or a piece of bread dipped in the 
sauce of bitter herbs which was eaten with the Passover. Presently he gave a sop 
to Judas, and said to him, "What thou doest do quickly." When Judas heard this he 
got up and went out, but the disciples did not know what he had gone for. 

When Judas was gone Jesus took bread and broke it and handed it to them all, 
telling them that it was a sign of his body, which was to be broken for them. And 
afterward he took the cup and passed it around, telling them that the wine was a 
token of his blood, which would be shed for them. And he bade them do this often 
in memory of him. All Christians, from that time to this, have eaten the bread 
and drunk the wine in memory of Christ. We call it the Lord's Supper, or the 
Communion, because in partaking of it we commune or have fellowship with Jesus. 

After the communion Jesus talked long with his disciples, comforting them and 
teaching them most tenderly, promising to send the Holy Spirit to give them power 
to do wonderful works in his name. Then he prayed with them, and they sang 
together the Psalms which were always sung at the Passover feast — the one hundred 
and thirteenth to the one hundred and eighteenth. It was now late in the evening, 
and the full moon was shining brightly over the city, with its crowds of people all 
making merry after the feast. 
Jesus led his disciples forth to a 
garden outside of the city, called 
Gethsemane, where he often went 
to pray : for the time of his trial 
was drawing near, and he felt 
the need of being alone with his 
Father. 

When they reached the gar- 
den Jesus left all his disciples 
behind, except Peter and James 
and John; and when they had 
gone on, under the shadow of 
the olive-trees, he asked these 
■dear friends to watch while he 
prayed. And going farther he 
fell upon his knees and prayed, 
"Father, if it be possible, let 
this cup pass from me: never- 
theless, not what I will, but what thou wilt." Three times he repeated this prayer. 

All the agony of the hours that were to come, the betrayal, the trial, the mockings 
and scourgings, the crucifixion, the burden of a whole world's sin, swept over his soul; 
but though the anguish of that hour pressed from him a sweat of blood, he so loved 
the world that he did not draw back. 

When Jesus came back to his disciples he found them sleeping, and he said gently, 
2 7 




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"What, could ye not watch with me one hour?" While he was speaking a crowd of 
people and soldiers entered the garden with lanterns and torches, and Judas at their 
head. He had told the soldiers that they would know which one to arrest by his- 
kissing him: and now he came up to Jesus saying, "Master, master!" and kissed 
him. Jesus answered, "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?" And. 



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211 




then he gave himself up to the soldiers, only insisting- that his friends should be 
allowed to go away free. 

Then the soldiers led Jesus away to the high-priest's house, and to the rulers who 
were waiting there; and after going through a mock trial they gave him up to the 
temple servants, who mocked him and smote him on the face and treated him 
most shamefully. And as soon as it was day the chief priests and rulers led him 
before Pilate, the Roman governor, followed by crowds of people, crying, " Crucify him! 
Crucify him !" Pilate did not want to condemn Jesus to death, but he was afraid of 
the people, and it was not long before he did as they asked. When Jesus had been 
condemned he was given up to the Roman soldiers for the cruel torture of scourging, 
the soldiers first binding his hands, while all the people thronged around him, shouting, 
"Crucify him! Crucify him!" And yet it was only six days since the streets of 
Jerusalem had rung with cries of " Hosanna !" 

Through all this dreadful night and morning Jesus had been calm, never mur- 



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muring, and only speaking once or twice in words of solemn dignity. What he was 
suffering we can never realize : but he bore it all for love of a guilty world. 

When he had been scourged the soldiers put a crown of thorns upon his head, and 
a reed in his hand for a sceptre, and they knelt before him, in hideous sport, saying, 
" Hail, king of the Jews !" Then they led him away to be crucified. 



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213 




■ A Z T , m ° f " bnght Spring day When J esus was ^iled to the cross bnt 

a dreadful darkness came over all the earth, like that of the blackest J Th 
Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do !» And after 



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three hours of suffering he uttered a great cry, and saying, "It is finished!" he gave 
up his spirit. 

Yes, it was finished, the work which, ever since that day of sin in Eden, thousands 
of years before, the Son of God had taken upon himself — of saving sinful men. There 
was no need any longer of sacrifice for sin, for Christ, the Lamb of God, had died for 
the sins of the world. 

When night came and the beautiful Passover moon was shining on the earth, some 
friends of Jesus went to Pilate and begged that they might have his bodv for burial. 
One of them was Nicodemus, the ruler who had come to Jesus on another night like 




this, three years before, to learn of him ; and one was Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man, 
who had a new tomb in a garden near Calvary in which he wanted to lay the body 
of Jesus. And waiting for Pilate's answer were the sad-hearted women who had loved 
Jesus so dearly, serving him in his life and following him to the cross. Pilate won- 
dered if Jesus was dead so soon, for people often lived for days upon the cross, but 
he found that Jesus was really dead, and a soldier thrust a spear into his side. 

Then Pilate gave them leave to bury Jesus; and they went together to the cross 



THE BIBLE IX PICTURE AXD STORY. 



215 



and took down that sacred body, and anointing it with sweet spices and wrapping it in 
white linen, they carried it to the tomb, and laying it gently in its place, they rolled a 
great stone before the entrance of the tomb. 

It was now Friday night, the night before the Jewish Sabbath, which is Saturdav, 
and all these friends of Jesus went to their homes to rest over the Sabbath day, accord- 
ing to God's command. But the enemies of our Lord remembered that he had more 
than once said that when he was put to death he would rise again in three days, and 
so they went to Pilate and asked that a guard might be set to watch the grave, and 
that the stone might be sealed, lest the disciples should come and steal the body and 
pretend that their master was risen from the dead. Pilate told them that they had 
their temple guard, and that they might make the tomb as secure as they could : and 
so they sealed the stone and set their soldiers to watch. 

All through the Sabbath day and night 
they watched ; but in the early morning 
of the first day of the week, while yet the 
dawn was gray around them, a sudden 
light, far brighter than that of day, shone 
upon the terrified soldiers. The earth shook, 
the seal upon the great stone was broken, 
and the stone rolled away from before the 
tomb; and while the soldiers, stunned and 
terrified, lay along the ground like dead 
men, the Lord Jesus came forth from the 
tomb. 

As soon as they had recovered from 
their shock the soldiers fled away into the 
city, and shortly after a band of women 
drew near. It was the faithful Mary Mag- 
dalene, and another Mary, and Susanna 
the wife of Herod's steward. They had 
spent the night, after the Sabbath was over, 
in preparing costly ointment for the body 
of their dear Lord, and now, as they came 
along together in the growing morning 
light, they said to one another, "Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb 
for us?" But when they reached the tomb the stone was rolled away. When Marx- 
Magdalene saw this she thought some one had stolen her Lord's body, and she ran 
back to the city to tell Peter and John. The other women went sadly up to the tomb 
and peeped in, and there they saw a shining angel, sitting in the place where the Lord 
had been laid. The next moment another angel appeared and said to them, "Fear not !' 
arid bade them remember that Jesus had told them that he would arise from the dead. 
When Mary Magdalene came, breathless, to Peter and John with word that the 




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Lord's body had been stolen away, they ran at once to the tomb. But though they 
found it empty, they saw no sign that the body of Jesus had been stolen, for the linen 
clothes in which he had been wrapped were carefully folded and lying in the tomb. 
But they did not see the angels, and wondering and troubled, they weut back to tell the 
other disciples. 

Mary Magdalene had followed them back to the garden, and when they went away 
she stood at the door of the tomb weeping. But looking in she saw two angels, in bright 
robes, sitting, the one at the head and the other at the foot, where the Lord had lain. 

"Woman," said one of the angels to her, "why weepest thou?" And Mary 
answered, with a broken heart, "Because they have taken away my Lord and I know 
not where they have laid him." 

When she had said this she turned and saw a man standing near her. He too 

asked her why she wept, and she, 
supposing him to be the gardener, 
said, "Sir, if thou hast borne him 
hence, tell me where thou hast laid 
him, and I will take him away." 

The stranger said to her, "Ma- 
ry !" Ah! now she knew that 
voice, and falling at his feet she 
cried, "Rabboni! My Master!" 

Then Jesus told her to go and 
tell his disciples that he was risen 
from the dead, and that he would 
go to Galilee, and would there see 
those who truly believed on him. 
But that very night, when the 
disciples were together in an upper room, perhaps that 
one where they had eaten the Passover together, Jesus came 
to them and said, "Peace be to you !" and talked to them. 
Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 
But Thomas, one of the disciples, was not with them when 
- the Lord appeared to them, and when they told him that they had 
seen the Lord he could not believe it. And he said, "Except I see 
his hands the print of the' nails, and put my hand into his side where 
the soldier's spear pierced him, I will not believe." 
The next Sunday, when they were all together again, and Thomas with them, 
Jesus came to them again and said, "Peace be unto you!" And then he said to 
Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand 
and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing." And Thomas, falling 
down before him, exclaimed, " My Lord and my God !" Happy are we, as Christ him- 
self has said, if we in our hearts can do the same. 





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217 




Then Jesus said, "Thomas, because thou hast seen me thou hast believed Blessed 
are they that have not seen and yet have believed." 

For forty days Jesus remained on earth, seeing his disciples often, teaching them 
much that he wanted them to know, and encouraging and comforting them. At one 
time as many as five hundred saw him at once 
28 



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At last he led his disciples out to the top of the Mount of Olives. There he gave 
them his last command, bidding them go into all the world and preach the gospel to 
every one ; and then he blessed them, and while he was blessing them he arose slowly 
into the air, and a cloud received him out of their sight. 



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219 




"Thr Acts of thr Apostles. 

AFTER Jesus ascended into heaven the disciples stayed in Jerusalem, and in a few 
days the Holy Spirit came down into their hearts as Jesus had promised. Now they 
were no longer afraid of the priests and rulers, and they preached Jesus boldly. One 
morning, as Peter and John went up to the temple, they saw a poor lame man who 



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had never walked in his life, sitting at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful 
Gate, and begging. The man begged of Peter and John; and Peter said to him, 
"Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name .of Jesus 
Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." 

And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and at once the man 
became strong, and he leaped up and went into the temple, leaping and praising God. 

Peter and John had leave to call upon God to do this miracle, because Jesus had 
sent his Holy Spirit upon them as he had promised. And from this time a great many 
people began to believe in Jesus: in a few weeks' time there were more than three 
thousand who believed.- 

And as a great many of them were very poor, others who had lands or houses sold 
them and brought the money to the apostles to be shared among those who had need. 

There was a man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, who joined Christ's 
disciples, but their hearts were still covetous. They also sold some land, but they 
agreed to keep a part of the money for themselves. Ananias brought the money to the 
apostles; but Peter knew that he was trying to get credit which he did not deserve, and 
he said, "Ananias, why do you try to lie to the Holy Ghost by keeping back a part 
of the price of the land? You have lied about it, not to man, but to God," And 
when Ananias heard this, conscience-struck and appalled, he fell down dead! 

A few moments afterwards 
Sapphira came in, and Peter asked 
her if that money was the price 
of the land, and she said that it 
was. Then Peter asked her how 
it was that she and her husband 
had agreed together to try to de- 
ceive God; and Sapphira fell down 
dead, as her husband had done. 
This made the new believers un- 
derstand that to believe on Christ, 
means also to strive to be holy 
like him. 

Before long the apostles chose 

seven good men, whom they called 

deacons, to help them in taking 

care of the poor. One of these 

men was named Stephen, and he 

did such wonderful works that the 

scribes and Pharisees seized him and dragged him before the council, as they had done 

with Jesus before. Stephen was not afraid of the council, and he boldly preached Jesus 

to them. 

His preaching cut them to the heart, and they rushed upon him and dragged him 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



221 




out of the city and stoned him with stones 
until he died. But with his last breath he 
prayed for them, saying, "Lord, lay not 
this sin to their charge." And when he 
had said this he died, as peacefully as if he 
was falling asleep, amid the stones that 
were raining upon him. 

There was a young man named Saul 
who belonged to the council. He was a 
devout man and full of zeal for the law, 
but he hated the disciples of Jesus, because 
he could not believe that Jesus was the 
Messiah. He went with those who stoned 
Stephen, and the sight of his holy and 

beautiful death only made him more bitter against the people of Christ. He began 

to persecute them so that many of them fled from Jerusalem to escape danger. But 

wherever they went they preached the gospel, so that the more they were persecuted 

the more the word of God was spread abroad. 

One of the seven deacons was named Philip, and as he was going from Jerusalem 

to Gaza he met a chariot in which was a great man of a neighboring country. He 

was reading the Hebrew Bible, at a place where it prophesied about the Messiah. 

Philip went up to the chariot and asked 

him if he understood what he was reading, 

and he answered that he needed some one 

to explain it to him, and begged Philip 

to come up into the chariot and explain 

it. Then Philip went up into the chariot 

and preached Jesus to him, and the great 

man believed and was baptized, and went 

on his way rejoicing. 

The country from which this great 

man had come was in Africa, south of 

Egypt. He was an officer of Queen Can- 
dace, of that country, and had charge of her 

great treasures. As he had been up at Je- 
rusalem on purpose to worship, and was 

reading the Hebrew Bible, it seemed that 

he was a Jew. Many of his countrymen lived in that region, and after his return many 

embraced Christianity, and the Bible was afterwards translated into the language of 

the country. 

After Philip had come up from the water, after baptizing the officer, the Spirit of" 

God caught him away out of sight, and he was next found preaching the gospel in Azotus. 




-222 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



Now Saul was persecuting the be- 
lievers with all his might, and every day 
growing more furious against them. At 
last he went to the high-priest and asked 
to be sent to Damascus, to search for any 
disciples of Jesus who might be living 
there, and bring them bound to Jerusa- 
lem. But as he drew near to Damascus 
suddenly a great light shone around about 
him, and Saul fell from his horse to the 
earth, for he heard a voice calling to him 
and saying, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest 
thou me?" Saul was terrified, but he 
answered, "Who art thou, Lord?" And 
the Lord answered, "I am Jesus, whom 
thou persecutest." Then Saul asked, 
''Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" 
And Jesus told him to arise and go into 
the city, and it would be told him what 
lie should do. 

Then Saul arose from the earth ; but 
he had been blinded by the great light 
and could not see, and his companions 
had to lead him. For three days he 
remained in darkness, too much distressed 
by the thought of how he had sinned against Jesus Christ to be able to eat or drink. 

After three days the Lord bade a good man named Ananias go to Saul. At first 

Ananias was afraid to go, for he had heard that Saul 

was persecuting the people of Christ; but the Lord told 

him that Saul was a chosen servant of His, who would 

do and suffer great things for His sake. Then Ananias 

went and put his hands on Saul and said, "Brother 

Saul, the Lord who appeared to thee in the way has 

sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight and be 

filled with the Holy Spirit." And then Saul's 

sight returned to him, and he was baptized, and 

the disciples gave him some food. 

He began at once to preach Jesus in the 
synagogues of the Jews, and many people be- 
lieved when they heard Saul preach. For this 
reason the Jews resolved to kill him, and they 
watched the city gates day and night for a good 





THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



!23 








opportunity to kill him. Then the disciples took Saul by night and 
let hirn down over the wall in a basket, and Saul went away alone 
to a desert place in Arabia, and there he stayed three years, thinking 
about God and praying to him and studying what the Bible had 
prophesied about the Messiah. At the end of three years he went to 

Jerusalem to see the apostles, and then 
he went quietly to his own home at 
Tarsus, in Asia Minor, to wait until 
God should give him work to do. 

Saul had been very strictly brought 
up, for his father was a Pharisee, and 
very particular that his son should be 
thoroughly taught in the law. When 
he was about thirteen he had been sent 
to Jerusalem for further education, and 
there he had been taught by a Rabbi, 
or doctor of the law, named Gamaliel, 
one of the wisest and most famous of the Jewish teachers. At Ga- 
maliel's feet the young Saul had sat, after the custom of those times, 
while the great Rabbi explained the law to him and to his fellow- 
pupils; and he became zealous for the law of God. But he had 
never believed that Jesus was the Son of God and the Messiah for 
whom he was daily praying, until the Holy Spirit came to him in such awful power 
on the road to Damascus. From that hour his whole life was changed, his heart and 
soul were devoted to Christ, and he served him as no man has ever served him since. 

The instruction he received from Gamaliel 
was a great help to him when he became 
a gospel minister. He was perfectly famil- 
iar with Old Testament history and the 
writings of the prophets; and he knew all 
about the rites and sacrifices of the Law, 
and could see how wonderfully they were 
fulfilled in the blessed " Lamb of God which 
taketh away the sin of the world." He 
knew, too, all about the customs and opin- 
ions and prejudices of his countrymen, and 
how to reason with them out of their own 
Scriptures. 

While Saul was living alone in Arabia 
the apostles were going about among the 
scattered believers, comforting them and 
teaching them more about Christ. 





224 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 




Now there was in Joppa, 
that city on the seacoast from 
which Jonah had long ago tried 
to flee from the presence of God, 
a disciple of Jesus named Tab- 
itha, or Dorcas. She was full 
of good works, and was always 
making things for the poor or 
doing them good in some way. 
But Tabitha fell ill and died, 
and was laid in an upper cham- 
ber, and the poor people came 
flocking to her house to weep 
for her and to tell how good she 
was and to show the clothes 
that she had made for them. 
Now Peter was not far off, at 
Lydda, and the disciples sent for him. Then he came, and having 
put the people all out of the room, he prayed beside her bed and said, 
"Tabitha, arise!" And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter 
she sat up. Then Peter called the people and showed Tabitha to 
them; and when they saw her alive again they were very glad, and 
the news that Tabitha had been raised from the dead made many 
more people believe in Christ. 

In working this miracle God not only showed us that the soul 
lives after the body is dead, but that He has the power to restore dead 
bodies to life. And this he will do for all men at the last day. We 
cannot but think too that he meant to put special honor on Dorcas 
for the character she showed and the unselfish and useful life she 
lived. Christ himself came not to be ministered unto, but to min- 
ister, and to give even his life for us: and his people ought to be like him. If 
they live only to be waited upon and enjoy themselves, they are not like him, and 
he will say to them in the judgment day, "I never knew you." So he himself has 
warned us. But very dear to him are the men and women — yes, and the boys and girls — 
who, out of love to him, are always trying to do all they can to make others happier 
and better. It is probable that Dorcas began early to form the habit of good-doing. 
If she had grown up a self-indulgent woman, taking her ease, she would never have 
won the grateful love of so many people whom she could make happy ; she never 
would have been restored to life and honored by all the millions who read about her 
in the Bible. Who would not follow her example, and hear Christ say in the last day, 
"Inasmuch as ye have done this unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done 
it unto Me".' 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



22- 




Now while Peter was in Joppa he one day went tip to the flat roof of a house to 

pray, and while he was there he had a vision which taught him something that none 

of the apostles had ever understood up to this time. 
29 



226 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



The Jews despised all 
the rest of the world, be- 
cause they themselves 
were God's chosen peo- 
ple. Peter's vision showed 
him that God did not call 
any man "common" or 
"unclean," as the Jews 
used in scorn to call the 
Gentiles; and as soon as 
he awoke he found out 
why the vision had been 
sent to him just then. 
He found that there were 
three men asking for him 

at the gate, sent by a Roman soldier named Cornelius, who lived in a city called Cesarea. 
Though Cornelius was a Gentile, he was a good man, and prayed often to God; so God 
told him to send for Peter, who would tell him what to do. Peter went and preached 
Jesus to Cornelius and his household, and they believed and were baptized. 

Now there were a great many disciples of Christ in a city called Antioch, enough 
to make a flourishing church, and it was there that the disciples were first called Chris- 
tians. One of the preachers in Antioch was named Barnabas, a good man, and full 
of the Holy Spirit, and he went to Tarsus and brought Saul to Antioch, and he stayed 

there a year. Then the Holy 




M 




Spirit bade the Antioch 
church send Barnabas and 
Saul forth to go and preach 
in other places, where the 
word of God had not yet 
come; and they sailed to 
the island of Cyprus, and 
preached the gospel there 
before the deputy, or gov- 
ernor of the island. But 
there was a false prophet 
there named Elymas who 
tried to hinder them, and 
Saul reproved him and told 
him that he should be blind 
for a time, because he tried 
to hinder the preaching of the gospel. And at once he became blind and had to grope 
his way about; and when the deputy and the people saw this they believed. 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



227 





mmMXM. 






i£S£^3&& £& tfft 




From this time Saul was no longer called Saul, but Paul, which is the Latin 
form of the same name. After this Barnabas and Paul crossed over to Asia Minor and 
went to another Antioch, in Pisidia, and preached. But the Jews persuaded the author- 
ities to send them away. Then they went to Lystra, and there they healed a lame 
man who had never walked. When the people saw this they thought that their gods 
had come down to earth in the likeness of men, and they called the priest of Jupiter, 
one of their gods, intending to offer sacrifice to them. But the apostles forbade them, 
saying they were only men. Many of the people of Lystra soon began to believe in 

Jesus: but the Jews came from 
Antioch and stirred them up 
into a great state of excitement, 
so that they seized Paul and 
stoned him and dragged his 
unconscious body outside the 
city wall and flung it there, 
thinking him dead. The peo- 
ple who had learned to believe 
in Christ followed, sorrowing; 
but while they were mourniii'j- 




228 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



over Paul he revived and rose up and went back with them into the city. But it was 
not wise for him and Barnabas to remain longer in Lystra, and so the next day they 
bade the new converts farewell and went away, going back through all the cities where 
they had taught, founding churches among the new converts, before going back to 
Antioch in Syria. 

Some years after, Paul took a disciple named Silas and went to visit these church- 
es. Now in Lystra there was a youth named Timothy, whose mother Lois was a 




Jewess. Lois had taught Timothy from his earliest childhood to understand the Bible. 
She had been anion? the Christian converts when Paul and Barnabas made their first 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY 



visit to Lystra. Now, after seven years, they found the child Timothy grown to be a 

young man and an earnest Christian, and he joined Paul and Silas in their journey. 

Paul grew to love him as if he were his own son, and they worked happily together. 

After Paul and Silas had 
visited Lystra they went over 
to Macedonia in Europe, and 
came to Philippi, where they 
stayed for some time. On Sun- 
days they went to the Jewish 
place of prayer, and there they 
preached. 

There was among them a 
certain woman named Lydia. 
She was not a Jewess, but she 
believed in the God of the Jews, 
and now the Lord opened her 
heart to believe in Christ. After 
she was baptized she begged 
Paul and Silas to make her 
house their home as long as 
they stayed in Philippi. 

Many people in Philippi 
believed in witchcraft and for- 
tune-telling, and there was a 

young slave-girl who seemed to have a particular gift at fortune-telling. When she 

heard Paul and Silas preach she followed them through the streets, crying, "These 

men are the servants of the most high God." 

When Paul heard her say this he turned and commanded the evil spirit to leave 

the girl. The spirit came out at the 

command of Paul, and after this the 

girl could no longer tell fortunes. 

When her masters saw that all hope 

of their gains was gone they were 

very angry at Paul and Silas, and 

thev seized them and draped them 

to the magistrates, saying that these 

men were making great disturbance 

in the city. The magistrates com- 
manded that Paul and Silas should 

be scourged, and when this cruel 

punishment was over they were 

dragged to prison. There the jailer 





230 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



put them in the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks, for he had been 

commanded to keep them safely. Though Paul and Silas were suffering greatly from 

the dreadful scourging they had received, they made no complaint: they only prayed to 

God and comforted one another as best they could. 

That night, at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing praises to God, 

so that all the other prisoners heard them, when suddenly there was a great earthquake 

that shook the prison and opened all the doors and loosened the chains of the prisoners. 

The jailer waked in terror and would have killed himself, for he thought that the 

prisoners must have all escaped; but Paul cried with a loud voice that he must do 

himself no harm, for all the prisoners were there. 

Then the jailer called for a light, and came trembling and fell on his knees before 

Paul and Silas, saying, "Sirs, what 

must I do to be saved?" And they 

said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus 

Christ, and thou shalt be saved and 

thy house." And they taught him 

about Jesus and how he had come 

to save the world, and the jailer be- 
lieved and was baptized, and all his 

family. And he brought Paul and 

Silas into his own rooms and washed 
their wounds and gave them food; 

and he and all his family rejoiced 

for the truth that they had learned 
about Jesus Christ. 

When morning; came the mag-- 
istrates sent to the jailer saying, 

" Let those men go," for they were 

frightened because of the earthquake. But Paul knew that this was the proper time 
to stand up for the rights which were his, and he said, "They have beaten us openly 
and uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they wish 
to send us out privately, and as it were in secret? No, let them come and fetch us 
out publicly." 

When the messengers brought this word to the magistrates they were afraid, 
because it was against the law to beat any man who was a Roman citizen. Paul 
inherited this honor from his father, though we do not know how the father came to 
have it, being a Jew; it was probably for some service he had rendered to some Roman 
high in authority. However this may be, when the magistrates heard of Paul's citizen- 
ship they came humbly to Paul and begged his pardon, and asked him if he and Silas 
would not kindly leave the city. So Paul and Silas went to the house of Lydia, and 
when they had seen all the new converts, and comforted them, they went away. 

They travelled through various Grecian cities preaching the gospel, the people 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



231 




hearing them gladly, but 
the Jews always making 
trouble and setting people 
against them, although 
they could not prevent 
many from believing. At 
last Paul came to Athens. 
This city was full of beau- 
tiful temples and altars to 
heathen gods. The peo- 
ple of Athens were gay 
and pleasure-loving, but 
they were also very intel- 
ligent and fond of every- 
thing beautiful, and interested in new thoughts, and their learned men took pleasure 
in arguing and disputing with Paul. And at last they took Paul to their highest court, 
which was held in a fine building on the top of a hill that overlooks the city, and 
they asked him to explain to them the meaning of his new doctrine. 

Then Paul preached to them about the true God, and about his son Jesus, who had 
been raised from the dead. But they did not care about his teachings, and Paul soon 

found that, intelligent as the 
Athenians were, they were not 
yet ready to receive the gos- 
pel, and that it would be a 
waste of time for him to re- 
main and preach to them. 

So he went on to Corinth, 
which was not far from Athens. 
And there he found a certain 
Jew named Aquila, and his 
wife Priscilla, lately come from 
Rome, because the emperor 
had given orders that all Jews 
should depart from Rome. 
Aquila and Priscilla believed 
in Jesus when they heard Paul 
preach about him, and Paul 
went home and lived and 
worked with them, for they 
were tent-makers, and that was 
also the trade that Paul had 
learned when he was a boy. 




232 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 




All the Jews of that time, 
however rich they might be, or 
however learned they wished 
their sons to become, caused 
each one of them to be taught 
a trade. Tent-making was a 
very common industry in the 
country round about Tarsus, 
where Paul was born, and it 
was most natural that he should 
learn this trade, though he prob- 
ably had no idea that he should 
ever practise it. But when Paul took up the life of service of God, and devoted himself 
to preaching about Christ, he did not think best to be always a charge upon those who 
heard him, and so he took up tent-making and supported himself by that. 

The people of Corinth were very different from the people of Athens. Many were 
ready and willing to hear the gospel and to accept Christ. It was while Paul was living 
in Corinth that he wrote the two epistles to the Thessalonians. On his way between 
Philippi and Athens he had visited them and had formed a little church there. 

At the end of a year and a half Paul left Corinth and sailed for Palestine, and 
Aquila and Priscilla went with him as far as Ephesus, a city of Asia Minor. Paul 
stopped over at Ephesus too, and preached the gospel there, and the people would 
have been glad to keep him, but he was very anxious to go up to Jerusalem to an 
approaching feast, and so he sailed away, promising to come back some other time. 

While he was gone a certain Jew named Apollos came to Ephesus. He was a 
very learned man, and knew the Scriptures wonderfully well, and he had heard of 

John the Baptist and had 

believed the things he 
said, and had taught them 
to others, but he knew 
nothing about Christ, ex- 
cept what John Baptist 
had taught. When Aqui- 
la and Priscilla found this 
to be so, they took him 
home with them and ex- 
plained the gospel to him 
more perfectly; and he 
believed and went about 
preaching, and convin- 
cing the Jews that Jesus 
was indeed the Messiah. 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 233 

Paul made his visit to Jerusalem, and then he set out on a third missionary journey, 
going through Asia Minor, founding new churches and strengthening old ones. Then 
he came to Ephesus as he had promised, and there lie lived for three years, for many 
people of Ephesus heard the word gladly, and a very strong church was formed there. 
The people of Ephesus were believers in magic and practised it a great deal; but when 
they heard Paul preach and saw the miracles which the Lord wrought by him, they 




gave up their belief in magic, and they came together and burned all the books which 
taught magical arts. There were a great many of thern, and when their value was 
counted up it was found to be fifty thousand pieces of silver. 

The Ephesians, like all the Gentiles of that time, had been idolaters, and wor- 
shipped many gods, and their city was filled with images of these gods, especially of 
their chief goddess, Diana. A great many men made their living by making these 
images, and when these men found that they were likely to lose their gains by the 
turning of the Ephesians to the true God, they stirred up the people so that the whole 
city was filled with riot and confusion. In the uproar they would probably have killed 
Paul if his friends would have permitted him to go out: but finally, after the crowd 



234 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



had been shouting, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians !" for about two hours, the town- 
clerk succeeded in quieting them. When the uproar was over Paul thought it better 
to go away for a time, and he visited the Grecian churches and afterwards set out for 
Jerusalem. 

The Christians of Jerusalem were very poor, for they were kept under by the 
scribes and rulers, and Paul had collected money for them from the Gentile Christians, 
many of whom were rich. He wished now to take this money to Jerusalem, but his 
Christian friends did not wish him to do so, for they knew that the Jews were very 
bitter against him, and they feared that harm would come to him; but he felt it to 
be his duty, and nothing could keep him back from that. 

His words were very resolute, but very pathetic. "What mean ye," he said, "to 
weep and to break my heart? For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to 
die at Jerusalem for the name of the I,ord Jesus." The brethren in the Holy City gave 
him a hearty welcome; and when he recounted to them the great things which God 
had wrought among the Gentiles in so many of the cities he had visited — the miracles 
he had witnessed, the converts he had welcomed, and the churches he had organized — 
they rejoiced and glorified God. 

He had hardly been in Jerusalem a few days, however, when, as he was in the 
temple, the Jews stirred up a great uproar, and they seized Paul and would have killed 

him if the chief captain of the 
Roman guard had not rescued 
him. And even then the Jews 
were so determined to kill him 
that the chief captain found it 
was not safe to keep him in 
Jerusalem, and he was forced 
to send him by night, under a 
strong escort of soldiers, to Ces- 
area, where Felix the governor 
was then living. He sent a 
letter to the governor telling 
him that the Jews accused this 
man of some crime about their 
own law, and that he had told them to go to Cesarea and make their 
complaint before the governor. 

Then after five days the high-priest and the elders came to Cesarea and 
accused Paul of being the ringleader of a sect who were making mischief. When they 
had made their complaint Paul spoke and defended himself, and Felix saw that he had 
done nothing wrong. But Felix had not the courage to say so and let Paul go free, for 
he wanted to be popular with the Jews. So he kept Paul a prisoner under guard, 
though not in a prison, letting him see his friends, and sometimes sending for him and 
talkino- with him. When Paul was brought before Felix he always preached to him 




P.' 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



*35 



of his duty and of judgment to come, so 
that Felix trembled: but he did not try to 
do better; he only told Paul to go away for 
that time, and when it was more convenient 
for him to attend to what he said he would 
let him know. He hoped too that Paul 
would bribe him to let him go free, but 
Paul did not; and so when, after two years, 
another man, named Festus, was made gov- 
ernor in his place and Felix went away, 
he left Paul a prisoner. 

Shortly after Festus became governor 
he went up to Jerusalem, and while there 
the high-priest came to him with a com- 
plaint against Paul. When therefore Fes- 
tus had gone back to Cesarea he sent for 
Paul and asked him if he would like to go 
up to Jerusalem and stand a trial. But 
Paul knew that there would be no justice 
for him in Jerusalem; he told Festus that 
he had done no wrong to the Jews and that 
he appealed to Caesar, the emperor. So 
Festus decided to send him to Rome to be 
tried before Caesar. 

A few days later the king, Herod Agrip- 

pa II., came with his wife Berenice to visit Festus: and to Agrippa Festus spoke about 

Paul, saying that he was about to send him 

to Rome, but that he really could not quite 

understand what the Jews accused him of, and 

he would like to have Agrippa hear the man 

and then give advice as to what Festus ought 

to write the emperor about him. 

The next day, therefore, when Agrippa 

was seated on the throne, and Berenice beside 

him, Paul was brought before him and per- 
mitted to speak for himself. And he made 

so noble a defence of his conduct, telling the whole story 

of his conversion and of his labors in the cause of Christ, 

that Agrippa told Festus afterward that he might have 

been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar. 

So Paul was put on board ship, with a great many 

other prisoners, to be sent to Rome. Paul, however, was 




m 




236 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 




not treated as a common pris- 
oner, and. his friends were per- 
mitted to go with him. Amon° 
them was Luke, who wrote one 
of the Gospels and the book of 
the Acts. 

The voyage was a long 
one. They made several stops, 
and at last the time of year 
drew on when travelling was 
dangerous by reason of the 
storms. The captain of the 
ship hoped however to get to 
a certain harbor, where they 
might stay comfortably until 
the stormy season was over ; but before they 
reached it a great wind arose, and for fourteen days they 
were driven before it in hourly peril. During this trying 
time Paul kept up the courage of the captain and crew, often giving good advice as to 
what should be done, and telling them that an angel of God had appeared to him and 
told him that none of the lives on the ship should be lost. At last, however, the ship 
struck and went to pieces, but it was near the land and all the people were saved. 
When they got to land they found that they were on an island named Melita, now 
called Malta. The people of the island were very kind, and kindled a great fire on the 
shore to warm and comfort the drenched and shivering people. Paul helped to gather 

sticks, and as he placed them 

.__-- ''-.-_ ~ SlSEsife^ on ^ ie ^ re a v 'P er > or poisonous 

^^: : jg-sh'^- - .r- snake, came out of the heat 

Bfe.. -■ >j and fastened on his hand. The 

superstitious people took this 
for a sign that he was a mur- 
derer or other guilty person; 
but when Paul shook off the 
viper and no harm came to 
him, they changed their minds 
and thought he was a god. 

While Paul was on the 
island he performed several 
miracles, healing people of va- 
rious diseases. 

After three months they 
embarked in a ship that had 




THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 



237 



been spending the winter in that harbor, and after several stops they reached Puteoli, 
111 Italy. There they found some Christian brethren, which must have greatly cheered 
Paul's heart after his long wanderings. Paul was permitted to stay a week with these 
Christian friends, and thee he and his party went on by land towards Rome. 

There were a great many Christians in Rome by this time. Paul had never been in 
Rome, but he had seen many of them in other places, and many of them were his own 
converts. He had written a long letter to them while he was in Corinth, that Epistle 
to the Romans which is in the New Testament. When these Christians heard that 
Paul was on his way to Rome a number of them went out to meet him, going by the 

Appian Way, a famous 

^ road leading south from 

- -- Rome, which now is lined 

with ruins, but then was 
bordered by stately build- 
ings. They met Paul and 
his friends at Appii Fo- 
rum, about twenty-seven 
miles from Rome, and it 
gladdened Paul's heart 
greatly when he saw them, 
so that he thanked God 
and took courage. 

When they arrived in 
Rome Paul was put in 
charge of a soldier, to 
whom he was constantly chained by the arm day and night. He was allowed however 
to live in a house of his own, and not in a prison, and his Christian brethren were 
permitted to come to him as much as they chose. As soon as Paul was settled in his 
house he sent for the Jews who were living in Rome and explained his case to them; 
but they seemed not to care much about it, and after faithfully declaring the gospel 
to them, Paul turned his attention to the Gentiles. 

Paul lived for two years thus, and at the end of that time he was probably set free. 
But if so, he was afterward arrested again and kept in prison and treated with more 
severity than before, and at last he was condemned to death. He was not afraid to die. 
His life had been one of many sorrows, of heavy trials, of such dangers as few men have 
known, and release must have been welcome. How wonderful the record is, as he 
himself so pathetically writes in a letter to Christians at Corinth. "Of the Jews," 
he says, "five times received I forty stripes save one; thrice was I beaten with rods, 
once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in 
the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by 
my own countrymen, .... in weariness and painfulness; in watchings often, in hun- 
ger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." 




2 3 8 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



Did all these labors and trials make Paul unhappy ? You might think so, but they 
did not. "As sorrowful," he writes in the same letter, "yet always rejoicing; as poor, 
yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." Faith in 
Christ and love to him can do wonders: they enabled Paul not to care for any trial or 
toil, and even to glory in them for Christ's sake. 




He was very willing to live so long as God saw best, for the good of Christ's cause 
in the world; but he felt that to depart and be with Christ was far better than any 
earthly pleasure. "I am now ready to be offered," he wrote to Timothy shortly be- 
fore he was led out beyond the walls of Rome to lay his head upon the block. "I have 
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there 
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall 
give me at that day." 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STOR Y. 



2 39 



'tiki 



The Rryrlation. 

The "beloved disciple," John, after his Master's death, preached the gospel in 
many places, and at last, in his old age, he was arrested and banished to the island 

of Patmos for trying to bring people to Christ. 
While he was there he had a very wonderful 
vision of his Lord. It was on a Sunday morning, 
and he was "in the Spirit," as he writes, when 
he heard a sound behind him as of a trumpet, and 
turning he saw Jesus, not as the man of sorrows 
he had been on earth, but all glorious and radiant, 
like nothing that man has ever seen before or 
since. Jesus gave him many messages to write 
to the churches, reproving them for their sins and 
encouraging them when they had done right, and 
promising glorious blessings to "him that over- 
cometh." 

After that John had many other visions, or 
revelations, of what should be in future days. 
The old prophets had spoken of a time when all 
should know the Lord, and this world should be 
so full of peace and quietness that fierce beasts 
should lie down together with gentle lambs and 
should not harm them, and a little child should lead them. And now John saw a 
vision of a new heav- 
en and a new earth, 
where God would 
dwell with men, and 
there would be no 
more death nor sor- 
row nor crying, for 
the former things 
would have passed 
away. That blessed 
vision will become a 
reality when all the 
world has come to 
the knowledge of 
Christ and taken Je- 
sus for its Lord. Even 
so come, Lord Jesus. 





240 



THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 




The "disciple whom Jesus loved," and who leaned on his breast at the last sup- 
per, also was permitted to add to his disclosure of the future glories of the church on 
earth most enrapturing glimpses of heaven itself. And so we have followed the Bible 
story from Eden to Paradise — that blessed abode where none can enter but those who 
have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. How tender 
and strong and everlasting the love between him and his Lord ! Let us love him as 
John did, and we too shall dwell with him in heaven. 




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